Nature, the world’s new factory
Nature has always been more efficient at making products than Man but now we're harnessing it for our own ends Most people would agree we still have much to learn from nature.
Key takeaways
- Nature is vastly more efficient at recycling and reusing matter than humans have been.
- In a recent interview with Forbes, Jason Kelly, founder of Gingko Bioworks, said that the company plans to create new species of bacteria whose purpose is to make a particular chemical.
- For example, a French fragrance company has commissioned Gingko Bioworks to grow rose oil (in a bacteria) so they don’t have to squeeze it from flower petals.
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2016) 'Nature, the world’s new factory', 311 Institute, 26 June. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/nature-the-worlds-new-factory/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
Nature has always been more efficient at making products than Man but now we're harnessing it for our own ends
Most people would agree we still have much to learn from nature. Nature is vastly more efficient at recycling and reusing matter than humans have been. The whole field and study of biomimicry is built on emulating nature’s principles of form fitting function.
But we’ve also begun moving in the other direction too—redesigning nature to suit our own purposes. In fact, we’re already beginning to create whole new species of organisms.
In a recent interview with Forbes, Jason Kelly, founder of Gingko Bioworks, said that the company plans to create new species of bacteria whose purpose is to make a particular chemical. For example, a French fragrance company has commissioned Gingko Bioworks to grow rose oil (in a bacteria) so they don’t have to squeeze it from flower petals.
According to Kelly, it makes sense to use bacteria instead of other manufacturing processes because living cells "are far more efficient at using energy than man-made manufacturing processes."
And this doesn't have to stop with lifeforms as tiny as bacteria. All around the natural world, we witness life forms which, driven by the programming of their DNA, produce massive, complex things from tiny beginnings. As George Church suggested, "A minuscule fertilised whale egg produces an object as big as a house. So maybe one day we can program an organism, or a batch of them, to produce not the whale but the actual house."
Neri Oxman of MIT, also imagines a world where instead of building, we’ll be able to grow more.
In her TED talk, Oxman outlines the tension between the chisel and the gene, as she says; the tension between building with traditional tools and building with nature.
A tension that will likely become more and more prevalent as the field of synthetic biology matures and more engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs have the option of choosing between manipulating genetics or man-made materials to achieve their goals.
Oxman says we’re approaching “a new age of creation, that takes us from a nature-inspired design to a design-inspired nature, and that demands of us for the first time that we mother nature.”
FAQ
Why does this matter?
Nature has always been more efficient at making products than Man but now we're harnessing it for our own ends Most people would agree we still have much to learn from nature.
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
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Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.
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Sources and further reading
- In a recent interview with Forbes forbes.com
Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 26 June 2016. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2016). Nature, the world’s new factory. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/nature-the-worlds-new-factory/
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