The very first edition, Biomim'expo 2016, wanted and initiated by Alain Renaudin took place at the beginning of July 2016, in Senlis, on the site of the Ordener district, where the history of Ceebios was born, decided by Pascale Loiseleur, Mayor of Senlis, and by some, and today directed by Kalina Raskin ... and supported by many!
It was a great and encouraging first and a success according to the general opinion. The quality of the speakers and exhibitors, the atypical setting, the friendly format, the opportunities for contacts and the diversity/multidisciplinarity were particularly appreciated. A unique meeting on this high potential approach.
Since then, Biomim'expo has grown from this merry-go-round in the Ordener district of Senlis to the Cité des sciences et de l'industrie in Paris! Thanks to the enthusiasm for the approach, the talent of the biomimicry community, and the desire of everyone to change their view of living things and to realise that Nature is our ally for a desirable future.
THANK YOU for this first edition in 2016!
It was a great and beautiful adventure to imagine, create and organise this first Biomim'expo 2016! It was quite incredible to see you all together, and a great satisfaction.
Biomimicry deserved its big meeting, and your numerous presence (even beyond our expectations) proved it. The quality of the interventions of the large panel of experts and actors was fantastic, we were very lucky, a very big thank you to all!
Biomimicry is an exciting approach to sustainable development that helps us change our view of living things and rediscover the extent to which nature is man's future. It is also a sector of the future, which needs to be better known and supported.
Find all the videos on the Biomim'expo channel on Youtube
Thank you to our supporters and partners of the event without whom it would not have been possible: The Ministry of the Environment, Energy and the Sea; the Hauts-de-France Region; the Caisse des Dépôts Group; the Matikem, UP'tex and IAR competitiveness clusters; the Lunt Foundation; the François Sommer Foundation; L'Oréal; Corning; Eiffage, I-Lab Air Liquide; Dassault Systèmes; Interface; LVMH; Institut Inspire; Humanité & Biodiversité; the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (National Museum of Natural History); Biomimicry Europa; ... and of course the Ceebios and the City of Senlis.
Thank you to all the speakers for their major contribution to the success of this event: Barbara Pompili; Pascale Loiseleur; Gilles Boeuf; Nathalie Lebas; Philippe Vasseur; Jacques Livage; Olivier Varlet; Bernard Saulnier; Adrijana Sehovac; Jérôme Loeuil; Thierry Fradetal; Alexandra Palt; Laurent Gilbert; Frédéric Vacher; Iswann Ali Benali François Dapilly; Franck Zal; Jérôme Michaud-Larivière; Jean-Baptiste Drevet; Laurent Bedel; Maria Fabra Puchol; Laure Rondeau Desroches; Nicolas Vernoux-Thélot; Téva Vernoux; Nicolas Bel; Pierre Pageot; Christophe Goupil; Sylvain Deville; Stéphane Viollet Christophe Egles; Arnaud Antkowiak; Idriss Aberkane; Jean-Luc Verreaux; Franck Cleymand; Guillian Graves; Olivier Girinsky; Karim Lapp; Emmanuel Delannoy; Guillaume Lecointre; Jean-François Silvain; Audrey Coreau; Sylvie Bénard; Christian Beranger; Brieuc Saffré Michka Mélo; Guillian Graves; Kalina Raskin, Tarik Chekchak; Daniel Gronier; Patricia Ricard; Emmanuel Poisson; Sébastien Colin; Giacomo Bersano; photographers Sabine Bernert and Gilles Mermet; journalists Fabienne Marion, Delphine Masson, Anne-Cécile Bras. (see programme for details)
Thank you to the NewCorp/Ceebios/Senlis teamOlivier Floch; Charles Jégo; Pascale Olivas; Joël Taboga; Sylvie Gauthier-Morestain; Kalina Raskin: Anneline Létard; Nathalie Desjardin; Isabelle Decaestecker; Anne Cuny; Delphine Viel; Amandine Vindry; Aurelia Pruvost; Hélène Loyez; Aliette Richard; Catherine Renaudin; the technical services of the City of Senlis who did a fantastic job to welcome everyone in the best conditions on the site; the Municipal Police; and a special thanks to Pascale Loiseleur and Francis Pruche.
Thank you for all your messages of thanks and encouragement (even if this first edition is largely perfectible and has already generated many new ideas... )
Speech by Barbara Pompili: Inauguration of Biomimexpo 2016
Official visit to Senlis
Opening of Biomimexpo 2016
"Mr. Prefect,
Madam Mayor,
Mr. Director of NewCorp,
Ladies and gentlemen, members of the Board of Directors of the European Centre of Excellence in Biomimicry in Senlis,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to apologise for the fact that I can only be with you today for this opening session of your annual gathering of Biomimicry actors and stakeholders. The constraints of my schedule mean that I have to leave immediately after this opening, and I am very sorry about that.
I was therefore keen to be with you today. Because I consider this meeting to be particularly important: it illustrates a little-known reason for preserving and recovering biodiversity.
When I am asked to give a definition of biodiversity, I often reply "It is the fabric of life", and I specify that this fabric is made up of innumerable plant, animal, geological or genetic fibres, each of which contributes to the strength of the whole. If some of these fibres become distorted or disappear, life itself is modified or even threatened.
However, as a result of human activities, under the effect of habitat modifications, over-consumption of resources, pollution, invasive exotic species and global warming, the rate of disappearance of natural species is reaching thresholds that make their regeneration impossible: fibres are disintegrating, breaking up and disappearing.
And the quality of life, life itself, is threatened.
The current rate of extinction of animal and plant species is 100 to 1000 times higher than the natural rate of extinction! Responding to this challenge is our objective, because it is, in the first sense of the word, a vital issue. Unfortunately, this awareness has not yet been instilled in people's minds in the same way as the awareness of the dangers of global warming.
In my opinion, this is due to two cumulative factors: the first is that it is difficult to convince people of the harmfulness of the level of our withdrawals from nature, whether in terms of the destruction of spaces or species, when this nature has the capacity to regenerate.
Talking about the consumption of a finite resource is simple and easily explained: when the resource is exhausted, it is exhausted. In a way, the decline of the stock is perceptible and can be followed without too much difficulty.
But to speak of a resource that regenerates itself is more difficult: Nature has a great capacity to restore itself, thanks to its diversity, provided that it has not been too severely damaged.
In many respects, we have crossed a threshold: the threshold beyond which regeneration is not sufficient to compensate for the destruction we cause to nature. And this is difficult to admit. (...) "