United Nations

Biomimetic Design Project – DRAFT

John Longhamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

United Nations Biomimetic Design Brief

Design Challenge: Leveraging Biomimetic Design Methodologies to

Support youth employment and career development.

Introduction:

United Nations experience indicates that investing in the development of

young people promises to benefit society in the present and in the future.

However, there is an epidemic youth employment crisis at hand. The United

Nations is positioning interagency alignment to support initiatives to foster

sustainable economic growth through actions aligned with the Post-2015 UN

Development Agenda. The UN agency spearheading the development of youth labor

frameworks is the International Labor Organization (ILO).

The Problem:

The following information and statistics are excerpted from ILO video

materials. As a potential consultative candidate for the UN, you would do

well to review said video materials here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LykE1Soyjwc There are 74.5 million

unemployed young persons (ILO). In advanced countries, youth unemployment and

discouragement remain persistent (ILO). The youth unemployment rate is 13.1%,

nearly three times the rate of adult unemployment (ILO). Young people with

higher levels of education are increasingly taking up jobs for which they are

overqualified (ILO). In developing countries, the challenge is not only

creating jobs, but also finding decent jobs for those young people who are

under-employed and working within the informal economy (ILO). More than 228

million young people are working poor (ILO). The economy will have to create

600 million productive jobs over the next decade (ILO). In 2012 the

International Labor Conference made a call for action that identified 5 key

policy areas: (1) economic policies for increased creation of employment, (2)

labor market policies for vulnerable youth, (3) education and training, (4)

entrepreneurship and self-employment, and (5) labor rights for youth (ILO).

The Opportunity:

The United Nations is seeking to engage a sustainable design consultant to

utilize biomimetic design methodologies to develop a context-adaptive agile

framework to support national youth employment and career development in the

United States through local modes of implementation.

Goals:

In alignment with the resolution and conclusions of the 101st Session of the

International Labor Conference, Geneva, 2012, project goals include: (1)

practical national frameworks for vulnerable groups of young people including

youth from low-income families and young women, to prepare for, enter, and

remain in the labor market, (2) assessment and recommendations for graduate

unemployment and national labor market needs, and (3) supporting national

entrepreneurship education for vulnerable youth. Goals one through three

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

correlate to biomimetic design concepts in the following way, respectively:

(1) systematically protecting and promoting diversity with the labor market

ecosystem, (2) whole-system analysis of the resources available within

graduate talent pools and the resource needs of the national labor market,

and (3) incubating and growing the latent entrepreneurial potential of

vulnerable youth.

Target Audience:

The following audiences will be supported through the efforts of this special

project: (1) vulnerable groups of young people including youth from low-

income families and young women, (2) recent college graduates, (3)

systematically disenfranchised creative and high-potential entrepreneurial

youth.

What this Initiative is Intended to Do:

I. Establish a context-adaptive agile framework to support national youth employment and career development in the United States through local modes

of implementation that:

1. Respects the diversity of national situations to develop practical frameworks that span across sectors, are context-specific, and

engage a comprehensive range of stakeholders

2. Prepares groups of vulnerable young people including low-income youth and young women for entry into the labor market.

3. Enters this group of vulnerable young people into the labor market.

4. Retains this group of vulnerable young people in the labor market.

5. Assesses and provide recommendations for graduate unemployment policy integration into higher level framework architecture.

6. Assesses and provides recommendations of national labor market needs.

7. Supports entrepreneurship education for disenfranchised youth.

8. Empowers vulnerable young people to apply their creativity and ability.

Functions this Initiative Must Perform:

1. Long-term systemic sustainability through leveraging diverse, locally attuned functionality and response.

2. Incubation of youth skills. 3. Incubation of youth mental health. 4. Integration of traditionally isolated groups of youth into various

tiers of the labor market.

5. Assessment of the environmental conditions of the graduate un- and under- employment.

6. Assessment of the environmental conditions of national labor market needs.

7. Nurturing and growth of entrepreneurial skills in vulnerable youth. 8. Growth of skill and executive function within the minds of vulnerable

youth.

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Guiding Values:

In alignment with the resolution and conclusions of the 101st Session of the

International Labor Conference, Geneva, 2012, the following guiding values

should be embodied in the methods, application, and outcomes of the practical

frameworks resulting from the efforts of this special consultative project.

(1) Respect for the diversity of national situations to develop practical

frameworks that span across sectors, context-specific, and engage a

comprehensive range of stakeholders, (2) ensuring the rights of all young

people are respected, (3) ensuring youth are heard and their creativity

engaged in the creation of the solution. Biomimetic design harbors the

primary methods in which to manifest these guiding values from the design of

all deliverables through to the manifestation of intended outcomes.

Existing Initiatives:

Seeds of Promise is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization located in Grand

Rapids, Michigan. Seeds of Promise looks to empower urban residents to direct

their own strategies to create a self-sustaining, self-transforming

neighborhood (www.seedsofpromise.org). Seeds of Promise seeks to

increase sustainable employment of local youth by implementing support

systems, and cultivating the development of businesses with local stakeholder

ownership.

Timeframe for Completion:

Completion within one year, following the establishment of the Post-2015 UN

Sustainable Development Agenda.

Non-negotiables:

A fundamental belief that the rights, voices, creativity, and value of

all young people should be respected.

Scope-of-work adherence as defined by the resolution and conclusions of

the 101st Session of the International Labor Conference, Geneva, 2012.

Previous consultative experience.

Previous experience in policy design and framework architecture.

Previous experience conducting biomimetic design exercises leading to

actionable output.

Flawless adherence to kick-off meetings, reviews, committee

correspondence expectations.

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Intended Outcomes & Functions

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Design Process

Round 1:

Identify: The economy will have to create 600 million productive jobs

over the next decade (ILO). Economic policies for increased creation

of employment must be created and enacted.

Interpret: The deliverable must support new economic policies designed

to produce the necessary amount of jobs for the new economy.

Discover: White-fronted bee-eater modify individual behavior for the

benefit of the group. Members of many animal communities improve the

survival of the group by self-sacrificing time, energy, and resources.

(asknature.org)

White-fronted African bee-eaters will face spitting cobras,

forage tirelessly for bees and delay having their own young-

all to help close relatives raise a clutch of baby birds.

Why would any bird engage in such magnanimous behavior?

Years of direct observation have led two scientists to

suggest this altruism is an inherited trait that gives the

"helper" bird's family a survival edge in the harsh African

savannah. Helper birds postpone opportunities to breed in

order to help family members," says Cornell University

biologist Stephen T. Emlen. But the behavior is genetically

"selfish" because it helps young relatives survive, thereby

perpetuating the family's genes. (asknature.org)

image: asknature.org

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Abstract: White-fronted bee-eaters modify individual behavior for the

benefit of the group. They place priority on collective survival rather

than self-survival. However, this is still an expression of genetic

selfishness, only, rather than achieving species survival through self-

preservation, these helper birds have adapted to expend their energy in

assisting their neighbors.

Emulate: The collective needs of regions can be expressed, visualized,

and aggregated through a web-portal. The white-fronted bee-eaters rely

on feedback from their like-kind in order to know where to focus group

effort for the creation of species sustainability. The collective voice

expressed through the web-portal will allow diverse stakeholders to

support each other’s needs through distributed contributions aimed at

creating increased jobs, which will result in greater economic

sustainability. Policies to develop “contribution quotas” that will be

applied to the private sector will embody the biomimetic shifted-focus

from self-preservation to collective preservation that we see in helper

birds.

Emulated Design Concept:

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Round 2:

Identify: A comprehensive context-adaptive agile framework to support

national youth employment and career development in the United States

through local modes of implementation must be created. This framework

must contain comprehensive instruction (all available information) at

a high level, and be able to discern when are where certain

information is appropriate to put into action.

Interpret: The web-portal must be comprehensive and all-encompassing at

a high level, but sensitive enough to respond to the needs of diverse

contexts with diverse stakeholders.

Discover: “The genome, which is comprised of DNA, is the entire

genetic composition of an organism. Most of the genetic material is

found in the cell nucleus. The primary function of the genome is to

encode the proteome, which is the entire protein complement of a cell

or organism. Proteins are largely responsible for the structure and

function of cells and complete organisms.” (Brooker, et al.)

Image: Brooker, et al, “Biology” [book]

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Abstract: Genomes contain all of the building blocks of life. The

diversity and complexity of their downstream outcomes is astounding.

Perhaps even more astounding is the upstream elegance, organization,

and coordination of ALL necessary biological actors involved with the

creation of life.

Emulate: Action is implemented at a regional level using comprehensive

frameworks for economic development contained at a high-level. In

emulating the genome, a “bottom-up” approach is utilized, in that

regions and stakeholders (public, private, entity, and individual) will

indicate their needs and desires (both self-indicated, and through

systemic auditing) and the centralized portal will draw from its

resources to create a custom regional “implementation guide” for

creating in-field action towards increased job creation. The indication

of needs through aggregated self-expression and systemic auditing is

handled through human-to-human interviews on the web-portal, as shown

below.

Emulated Design Concept:

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Round 3:

Identify: Labor market policies for vulnerable youth are a priority

area for sustainable economic development (ILO). Vulnerable youth

include low-income youth and young women. There are currently large

segments of the youth population that are personally restricted, and

who’s potential to contribute to the growth of the new national

economy is hindered.

Interpret: The web-portal must support the integration of vulnerable

youth into the new sustainable economy through career preparation and

placement. This will require public-private coordination and

contributions in-line with the corresponding UN policies and

initiatives defining the treatment of individuals within nation-state

(USA) boundaries. Diversifying talent pools, including the

incorporation and support of vulnerable youth will serve both

individual and whole-system benefit.

Discover: “Prairie ecosystems maintain soil and water quality and

nutrient cycling because they are perennial and have diversity.”

(asknature.org)

"If we look to the planet's many different natural, land-based

ecosystems for answers on how to effectively manage soil and

water resources in our agricultural systems, the plant

communities in nearly all of them have two critical attributes in

common: perennialism and diversity. This holds true from tropical

rainforests to temperate-zone grasslands…While in many cases we

cannot entirely rewind the tape by converting annually cropped

land back to diverse perennial plantings, there is ample evidence

that reverting back to vegetative structures more closely

resembling that of the previous natural system provides

substantial benefits in terms of improved soil and water quality

and nutrient cycling." (asknature.org)

Image: asknature.org

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Abstract: Prairies and other ecosystems are resilient and thrive in the

long-term through leveraging diversity. Fertile soil, water quality,

and nutrient cycling are emergent properties that stem from advanced

exchanges between ecosystem entities. No entities are isolated in

natural ecosystems. On the contrary, all entities are contributors who

reinforce the vitality of one another.

Emulate: The national economy can be equated to an ecosystem. Fertile

soil, water quality, and nutrient cycling can be equated to equitably

distributed economic resources. The equitable distribution of resources

is an emergent property of exchanges made by contributors to the

economy (people) and can be significantly strengthened through

continued talent pool diversification, and integration of vulnerable

youth as equitable benefactors and beneficiaries. The proposed web-

portal will provide national and region-specific real-time information,

indicating where there is a demand for labor (and specification of what

kind) and where there is a supply of talent in vulnerable youth talent

pools. Youth can self-identify an aligned interest with the vast

availability of career development options. Vulnerable youth set up on-

line profiles including their interests, natural abilities, and

aspirations and begin scouting for companies – and vice-versa. The

image below illustrates the selection of career opportunities that the

web-portal would present to a youth, based on their person-to-person

interview, and self-identified interests (in alignment with regional

economic needs in both private and public sectors).

Emulated Design Concept:

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Design Presentation

The primary focus of this biomimetic design exercise is the creation

of a web-portal to support regional and national economic growth by

integrating new UN human-rights legislation, public-private

partnerships, and career training and placement for vulnerable youth

(special focus on low-income youth and young women). The web-portal

presents an efficient and effective framework for creating actionable

and accessible change capable of contributing to national resiliency

through modes of disruptive innovation. The images below highlight

select user scenarios with the proposed web-portal. Central to the

portal is the comprehensive input from both the talent demand side,

and the talent supply side – elevating the unfiltered voices of

stakeholders themselves for the sake of strengthening their region.

1: Interview / Intake Process

4: Implementation Guide

(Private/Public Demand Side)

3: Regional Supply/Demand Dashboard

2: Regional Collective Voice

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Prototype Proposal

The following proposal details the assets, process, and cost to

develop a functional web-portal prototype, up to, and through launch.

Digital Assets

Development computer

Development platforms (Dreamweaver, Muse, Acquia, Drupal)

Web host (local or offsite may affect pricing)

Domain / URL sequestration

Server-side platforms (PHP, MySQL)

Computers with webcams (demonstrate person-to-person function)

Prototype Development Process

1. Concept formation (biomimetic design process)

2. Content development (copy, photos, establish aesthetic)

3. Site mapping

4. Wire-framing

5. Digital mock-up

6. Dev. site

7. Launch live site

5: Talent Pool (Supply Side)

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Cost

Prototype (digital mock-up) - $10,000

Prototype (dev. site) - $20,000*

Finished (live site) - $100,000*

* These prices include the purchase of hardware - such as computers

with webcams – to demonstrate the advanced functionality of the web-

portal.