Professor Anamarija Franki:

Biomimicry has been my passion for the past 20 years. We are creating a large European council of purpose to bring nature-based solutions to public knowledge and showcase what solutions exist and where they can find and implement them. This relates to the Senator's question about public research and participation, the precautionary principle and nature-based solutions. It is all connected in how to live resiliently and sustainably and not compete with each other. I was always told that in nature, competition leads everything and it does not. We are now learning more and more that it is collaboration. It is sharing. That is how we need to start seeing nature and start learning from systems around that.

Regarding public research, this is something Mr. Kavanagh and I included in the NORRI Biomimicry LivingLabs we are starting everywhere - wherever students want to participate and include their research because all of the research we are doing is trying to address local community needs. This is where public participation is necessary because if we are doing the research, publish the papers and give us the PhD student, that is not the goal anymore. We need to figure out how those researchers in science and technology will solve local problems. This is where the Biomimicry LivingLabs were very helpful because students were working with different stages and ages of education together with the local community. They were translating their knowledge - each other's knowledge - and working together to solve the problem. This is how I see this working in future.