Group opinion - Massive investment in science and biodiversity, the life insurance of humanity.

Published in the newspaper La Tribune on 23 October 2022 a few days before Biomim'expo 2022.

Full text and co-signatories below, who you can join at the end of the article.

Remaining able to "Live on Earth" has become the new challenge for humanity! Are we even aware of this? The cradle of our future is the Earth, to be kept alive if we wish to remain so ourselves. This is why we are calling for a general mobilisation and the launch of a Biodiversity Marshall PlanThis is an innovative, offensive and ambitious approach to preserving and restoring biodiversity and to providing the political, scientific and economic means to draw inspiration from it for future innovation. " Biodiversity, capital and muse of our future ".

France aims to meet the challenges of the climate emergency. Are we setting the right priorities? Are we distinguishing between problems and solutions, causes and consequences? Do we know how to listen to the root peoples in solidarity, in communion with the living? How can we design another future? Innovative, universal, inspiring and unifying. The answer will be collective and must associate life, science, uses and innovation, the four pillars of the transition.

In this age of technological prowess and the rise of disconnected, virtual lives, it is time to care about our only safe haven: life! No one can escape polluted air, feed on barren soil, protect themselves from fire and floods, or enjoy a devastated landscape. Humanity is creating a lifeless nature that will become a lifeless nature. This humanity will die from killing biodiversity, from thinking of itself as separate from and not part of the living.

3.8 billion years of R&D can inform our strategic roadmap.

Biodiversity does not die slowly and "gently", it dies in a season, in a few weeks, as shown by the red gorgonians of the Mediterranean decimated in a single summer. What will we do the day the trees no longer wake up after winter? But this priority of preserving living things is also an incredible hope: wherever we protect biodiversity, wherever we restore living and productive ecosystems, in forests, in the ocean, in estuaries, in rivers, in fields and in cities, we recreate hope, we mitigate heat islands, we sequester CO2, we reduce pollution, we limit the risks of drought and flooding, we preserve resources and we reduce the risks of geopolitical conflicts.

Biodiversity is a powerful solution to the climate problem because this life that we are mistreating is not only beautiful and useful, it contains the answers to the challenges facing mankind! As long as we know how to listen to it, observe it, love it and re-understand it, in order to learn from its expertise in resilience and continuous adaptation over the last 3.8 billion years! Life is the most powerful ally of our future, and drawing inspiration from it must become our new strategic roadmap. What national ambition do we have for living beings, which are both, through their extinction, the primary cause of all our ills, and through their excellence, our only salvation?

It is no longer time for observations, but for ambitious and systemic solutions.

Fighting pollution, regenerating the life of the soil and the ocean, stopping the rampant artificialization, eco-designing what we produce, sourcing locally, saving resources, reinventing regenerative agriculture and living cities, investing in research and stimulating the link between science and industry, reinventing our economic models, these are the new frontiers of innovation.

Taking the living as a source of inspiration and breaking out of our towers of Babel 

The idea of using living matter as a source of inspiration and solutions (biomimicry) is not new, but it is gaining momentum and should be encouraged. Above all, it is an approach that is a reversed front, exciting and mobilising, which no longer views nature as a stock, a value, a beautiful landscape or a dogmatic battle, but as a brilliant and incredible school for the future. With the development of knowledge, the rise of collaborative and multidisciplinary innovation, the contribution of new technologies, and the recognition of nature as a model, the bio-inspired approach is at the heart of our quest for societal transition. We need reconnections between man and nature, but also between research and industry, ecology and economy, large groups and start-ups, biologists and engineers, experts and the general public. Our sectoral, disciplinary and community "languages" are our new Towers of Babel, isolating us at a time when we need to come together.

The biomimicry sector: a national flagship in the making.

Biomimicry is also a field of scientific excellence, a source of industrial, energy and ecological renewal, and an asset for France: with its network of academic skills, its global reserve of biodiversity and its industrial and entrepreneurial capacities, France can and must adopt a strategic and ambitious programme.

There is no planet B, let's invest here in the restoration of life.

We know the cost of inaction, but how much do we value the wealth of innovations and services offered by living organisms? In order to invest in our future, we call for an offensive and ambitious general mobilisation to preserve biodiversity and to provide ourselves with the political, scientific and economic means to draw inspiration from it for tomorrow's innovations. At the confluence of creativity, academic excellence, universalism and ecological and industrial engineering, for a New Wave of biodiversity in France and to take up the challenge of Living on Earth.

Author, and initiative :

  • Alain Renaudin, President of NewCorp Conseil; founder of Biomim'expo.

Co-signatories:

  • Valérie Alard, Materials Innovation Manager LVMH Research
  • Jean-Pierre Aubert, president and founder of Terres de Métamorphoses
  • Dr Fabienne Aujard, Director of Research at the CNRS, Director of the CNRS/MNHN Laboratory for Adaptive Mechanisms and Evolution
  • Violaine, Baccialone, graduate of the master of science Nature Inspired Design of ENSCI les Ateliers
  • Lucas Baliteau, The Fabrianists
  • Jean-Marc Batard, equipment mechanic Cité des Télécoms Foundation
  • Vincent Bechtel, director of Sinallagma
  • Clémence Bechu, Director of Development, Innovation and Partnerships, Bechu & Associés
  • Nicolas Bernier, professional coach, transition support
  • Philippe Berta, geneticist, university professor, member of parliament for the 6th constituency of the Gard, member of the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Education
  • Professor Serge Berthier, University of Paris Diderot & Institute of NanoSciences of Paris, Sorbonne-University
  • Delphine Bianchini-Manno, founder of DBM Conseils
  • Professor Laurent Billon, teacher-researcher at the University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour, deputy director of the IPREM
  • Sandrine Bissoulet, Ecosystem and Programme Director, Le Grand Défi
  • Jérémy Blanc, Izpindar Secretary
  • Alain Bleu, RFI radio broadcast director-regulator
  • Olivier Bocquet, Director LAB Rougerie+Tangram
  • Gilles Boeuf, biologist, former president of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, professor at the Pierre-et-Marie-Curie University and Sorbonne University
  • Fabrice Bonnifet, President of the College of Sustainable Development Directors, with all the members of the Board of Directors
  • Allain Bougrain Dubourg, President of the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO) and of the Strategic Orientation Council of the Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB)
  • Nathalie Boyer, Ambassador for the circular economy at the Ministry of Ecological Transition. Vice-president of the National Council for the Circular Economy. General Delegate of ORÉE
  • Eric Brassard, retired, former financial advisor and professor of taxation and finance
  • Olivier Cabanes, architect AOCA
  • Coline Caillier, CEO IBMED
  • Jean-Philippe Camborde, producer, La Belle Société Production
  • Prof. Jérôme Casas, Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l'Insecte -IRBI- Tours. Corresponding fellow Royal Society of Edinburgh and honorary Professor Heriot-Watt University
  • Lydie Castagnet, Independent Marketing and Communications Director, Time for the Planet Partner
  • Gauthier Chapelle, agricultural engineer and doctor in biology; author, lecturer, scientific collaborator at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
  • Tarik Chekchak, Director of Biomimicry at the Institute for Desirable Futures; Polar Expeditions
  • Patrick Choisy, head of department: innovation un natural materials and sustainable development - LVMH research
  • Thomas Clavet, manager of EMC3 Consulting, expertise in multiphysics simulation
  • Jérôme Cohen, President ENGAGE
  • Thomas Cottinet, Director of Ecolab
  • Marguerite Culot-Horth, Director of Programmes, Development and Institutional Relations, Finance for Tomorrow
  • Julien Dalle, ecological engineering, Seaboost
  • Pierre Darmet, Vice-President of the International Council on Biodiversity and Real Estate
  • Amaël David, private citizen and volunteer of the association nature en Occitanie
  • Etienne Decaestecker, pharmacist, head of operations
  • Matthieu Delabie, Deputy Head of Department, Mobilisation and Support of Companies and Territories, French Office for Biodiversity
  • Isabelle Delannoy, President, The Symbiotic Enterprise
  • Emmanuel Delannoy, Secretary General of the French IUCN Committee
  • Isabelle Denantes-Verdier, co-founder Biomim'+
  • Antoine Denoix, CEO AXA Climate
  • Frédéric Dissard
  • Mariana Dominguez Peñalva, biodesigner, founding president of Fungus Sapiens and Maelium Biofabrika
  • Emmanuel Druon, President of Pocheco, inventor of the first ecolonomy demonstrator
  • Darja Dubravcic, founder of Wild Innovation Agency
  • Pierre Duffau, Head of Major Projects, Toulouse City Council, Toulouse Métropole
  • Catherine Duret, NODE architecture
  • Edouard Duvernay, artistic director
  • Yves Emo, Technical Director EMO Concept Environmental Management
  • Katia Estève, Project Manager
  • Jean-Louis Etienne, doctor and explorer
  • Séverine Fantapie, co-author of the Fresco of the Regenerative Economy
  • Lénaïk Fily, design and biomimicry consultant
  • Olivier Floch, general curator of Biomim'expo
  • Donald François, Founding President, SerenySun Energies
  • Claude Fromageot, President of RESPECTOCEAN
  • Françoise Gaill, biologist, oceanographer, Emeritus Research Director at the CNRS; Vice-President of the International Ocean and Climate Platform, Honorary President of the Scientific Committeee
  • Hermès Garanger, Lama, Speaker and Media Producer
  • Florence Garçon, founding partner, supper.paris
  • Laurence Gavroy, nature guide
  • Sylvie Gillet, Director of development and biodiversity, ORÉE
  • Olivier Grabette, President Friends of Sustainable Grids
  • Philippe Grandcolas, CNRS research director, researcher and founder, Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, ISYEB, UMR 7205 CNRS MNHN SU EPHE UA. National Museum of Natural History
  • Guillian Graves, designer, president of Big Bang Project, co-director of the MSc NID at ENSCI-Les Ateliers; teacher at the EMI of Sciences Po
  • Christophe Goupil, physicist, LIED, Université de Paris Cité
  • Jean-Pierre Goux, President, OneHome
  • Prof. Dr. Claude Grison, Director of the Laboratory of Bio-Inspired Chemistry and Ecological Innovations, National Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Pharmacy, Member of the European Academy of Sciences
  • Hélène Grosbois, activist for the restoration of life
  • Olivier Hamant, biologist, RDP & Institut Michel Serres - INRAE, ENS de Lyon
  • Emma Haziza, hydrologist, Mines Paris, AgroParisTech
  • Laurianne Hoarau, founder of La serre des Idées
  • Jean Hornain, Managing Director of Citeo
  • Caroline Isidore-Weibel, founder of apprenance
  • Roland Jourdain, sailor, double winner of the Route du Rhum (2006 and 2010 in the Imoca - 2nd in 2022 in the Rhum Multi); co-founder of the Explore Fund
  • Jean Jouzel, climatologist, member of the Academy of Sciences
  • Claire Kaczynski, student, Design of transitions and biomimetic design at the Institute of Design, St-Malo
  • Galitt Kenan, Director of the Jane Goodall Institute France
  • Laurent Lafite, Sustainability Director Fermentalg
  • Jean Lalo, manager Ô dites-moi
  • François Lasserre, author, teacher, populariser, especially in entomology (insects)
  • Elisabeth Laville, Founding President, Utopies
  • Jacques Le Moigne, biodiversity and water entrepreneur
  • Matthieu de Lesseux, Founder and President, La Belle Forêt
  • Bruno Lhoste, President Inddigo
  • Amandine Limouzin, Director of L'Asso-Mer
  • Vincent de Mauny, Chairman of Well IC and VP of Vergnet
  • Pascal Moret, producer-director, La Belle Société Production
  • Samuel Pasqualon, Founder of Belle Étoile Environnement
  • Michèle Pappalardo, former President of Ademe; President of the SRI label committee
  • Emmanuelle Parache, founder of Biocenys
  • Deborah Pardo, President and co-founder of Earthship Sisters
  • Anne-Charlotte Pénot, student at the Green Management School, Paris
  • Eric Perrot, President of Via Pando
  • Luce-Marie Petit, biologist and engineer at Ceebios
  • Laetitia Pfeiffer, Partner Innovation & Sustainability, onepoint
  • Xavier Pineau, founder and director of Amacyte Conseil
  • Julien Porte, entrepreneurial engineer - INSA Lyon & IRIIG
  • Franck Pressiat, head of an environment and ecological engineering unit & member of the Vigilife Alliance
  • Edouard Provenzani, director of Pixelis
  • Francis Pruche, biomimetic expert
  • Edith Raillard, Director of Mission Innovation Transformation Publique, Toulouse Métropole
  • Patricia Ricard, President of the Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute
  • Virginie Raisson-Victor, President Giec Pays-de-la-Loire
  • Kalina Raskin, General Director of Ceebios
  • Emmanuel Régent, President of Biodiversio
  • Chrystelle Roger, President of Myceco
  • Jean-François Roucou, Sustainable Performance Director, Pernod Ricard
  • Jacques Rougerie, architect, member of the Institute
  • Michèle Sabban, founding member of R20, Regions of Climate Actions
  • Olivier Schaan, former oceanographer, PhD Halieute, founder of Gourmet-Santé
  • Lauranne Schied, Founder LSRE & President Paris office of Pure OCEAN
  • Marc-André Selosse, Professor at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle
  • Geneviève Sengissen, Director of Lifelong Learning at the ENSCI les Ateliers
  • Eliska Stepankova, design and biomimicry consultant of Design for Nature
  • Merry Strullu, founder of the firm Dare to Take a Break
  • Jian-Sheng Sun, Professor, Scientific Director Bioinspire-Muséum, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle
  • Christophe Surdieux, expert systems engineering & architecture for sustainability - Capgemini Engineering
  • Franck Sylvain, CEO EEL Energy
  • Mia Tahan, graduate of the master of science Nature Inspired Design at ENSCI les Ateliers
  • Florence Taron, Head of CSR Communications, Pernod Ricard
  • Laurent Testot, science journalist and writer
  • Dominique de Tomasi, President, E'LO
  • Romain Troublé, Managing Director of the Tara Ocean Foundation; President of the Ocean and Climate Platform.
  • Pierre Tuffigo, President, ELWAVE
  • Philippe Vasseur, former Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; former special commissioner for the revitalisation and reindustrialisation of the Hauts-de-France region; former member of parliament, regional councillor, mayor; author; President of the "Alliances" association; President of the World Forum on Responsible Economy (World Forum Lille)
  • Nicolas Vernoux-Thélot, architect D.P.L.G., CALPOLY teacher (Californian Polytechnic state university), founding president of In Situ Architecture
  • Johan Verstraete, Director of ESME Lille, engineering schools and Director of Educational Innovation
  • Richard Vincent, leader of the Molocan Project
  • Aurélie Villaret, Doctor of Biology, Pierre Fabre
  • Dr. Stéphane Viollet, Director of Research at the CNRS, Institut des Sciences du Mouvement de Marseille
  • Philippe Vroman, Senior Lecturer, GEMTEX Laboratory (ULR 2461), ENSAIT, University of Lille
  • Karine Weber, Founder of Roadmap Consulting
  • Luc Wise, Director, the good company
  • Dr. Franck Zal - PhD / HDR / EMBA Managing Director and Scientific Director HEMARINA SA

You can also join the co-signatories to associate yourself with this collective forum and relay it: