Nature of Creative Analogies in Biologically Inspired Innovative Design

摘要

Analogy is a fundamental process of creativity. Biologically inspired design by definition entails cross-domain analogies, and in practice has led to many innovative designs. Thus, biological inspired design is an ideal domain for studying creative analogies. In this paper, we describe an intricate episode of biologically inspired design that unfolded over an extended period of time. We then analyze the episode in terms of Why, What, How and When questions of analogy. This analysis provides a content theory of creative analogies in biologically inspired design.