Communication paths in biomimetic design - Supporting a model-based interdisciplinary information transfer

A challenge of the development of biomimetic products is the interdisciplinary collaboration of engineers and biologists. Differences in terminologies, representations of knowledge and their interpretation can provoke misunderstanding or non-understanding of information provided by the other discipline. To overcome that challenge, models for information transfer should not only be chosen regarding their content but also their understandability in both disciplines. This paper discusses an approach how models can be identified, that can be understood in both engineering design as well as biomimetics. Thus, communication paths between experts of the different disciplines in biomimetics can be established.