Biomimetics is a field that has the potential to drive major technical advances. It might substantially support successful mastering of major global challenges. In the first part of the article, the current state of biomimetics is reviewed, and goals and visions of biomimetics are presented. Subsequently, possible biomimetic scenarios to overcome the major global challenges, as indicated by the Millennium Project, are envisaged. Those of the 15 challenges (sustainable development, water, population and resources, democratization, long-term perspectives, information technology, the rich—poor gap, health, capacity to decide, peace and conflict, status of women, transnational crime, energy, science and technology, and global ethics) where biomimetics might provide relevant contributions are considered in more detail. The year 2059 will mark the 100th anniversary of Part C of the Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science. By this time, some of these challenges will hopefully have been successfully dealt with, possibly with major contribution from biomimetics. A new Leitwissenschaft and a new type of ‘biological technology’ are emerging, and in biology more and more causation and natural laws are being uncovered. In order to estimate the fields of biology from which technical innovations are likely to appear, the amount of causal knowledge is estimated by comparing it with correlational knowledge in the respective fields. In some fields of biology, such as biochemistry and physiology, the amount of causal laws is high, whereas in fields such as developmental biology and ecology, we are just at the beginning. However, sometimes ideas and inspirations can also stem from nature when the causations are not known. The biomimetic approach might change the research landscape and the engineering culture dramatically, by the blending of disciplines (interdisciplinarity). The term ‘technoscience’ denotes the field where science and technology are inseparably interconnected, the trend goes from papers to patents, and the scientific ‘search for truth’ is increasingly replaced by search for applications with a potential economic value. Although the trend in many scientific fields goes towards applications for the market, a lot of disciplines will stick to the traditional picture of science. An open question left to the future is whether the one development or the other (technoscience or pure science) is an advantage for the future of humans. In the subsequent section, the article gives information about organizations active in biomimetics. It shows the relevance of biomimetics on a global scale, and gives reasons for promoting transdisciplinary learning. Increasing interdisciplinarity calls for novel ways to educate the young. Brian Cambourne's ‘Conditions of Learning’ theory is recommended in this respect. This dynamic and evolving model for literacy learning comprises the concepts immersion, demonstration, engagement, expectations, responsibility, employment, approximation, and response. Each of these conditions supports both the student and the teacher in their discovery of learning, helps provide a context within which to learn, and creates an interactive and dynamic experience between the learner and the content. In the year 2059, researchers and developers who routinely think across boundaries shall successfully implement knowledge in solving the major challenges of their time!

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In recent design programs and studies at the TU (Vienna University of Technology) the biological paradigm has been successfully introduced in architectural design. The focus of this paper is on the common analogy between biological skins and technical facades that was investigated in students' projects at the TU and is now developed further in the study BioSkin led by the AIT (Austrian Institute of Technology).The facade of a building is responsible for energy and information exchange with the environment and defines the architectural character. The interpretation of facades in analogy to skins and bodyshells of organisms delivers a catalogue of functions that is only partly fulfilled by conventional facade technologies and allows for innovative, visionary concepts. Organisms have developed a wide range of strategies to cope with a changing external and internal environment: skins and body shells play an important role as separating and connecting structures required to protect, confine and contain processes of life from a chaotic environment.A summary of existing projects and studies leading towards a biomimetic building facade is the base for further research aiming at energy efficiency and sustainability. Several design studies are presented that transfer aspects of natural skins to facade systems and materials, together with an introduction to research that is focussed on models from nature for the architectural facade of the future within the frame of the BioSkin project.

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Engineers, designers and architects often look to nature for inspiration. The research on 'natural constructions' is aiming at innovation and the improvement of architectural quality. The introduction of life sciences terminology in the context of architecture delivers new perspectives towards innovation in architecture and design. The investigation is focused on the analogies between nature and architecture. Apart from other principles that are found in living nature, an interpretation of the so-called 'signs of life', which characterize living systems, in architecture is presented. Selected architectural projects that have applied specific characteristics of life, whether on purpose or not, will show the state of development in this field and open up future challenges. The survey will include famous built architecture as well as students' design programs, which were carried out under supervision of the author at the Department of Design and Building Construction at the Vienna University of Technology.