Book excerpt: Despite endless change and disruption, massive upheaval and cosmic collisions, nature has survived the worst of times and thrived in the best of them for 3.8 billion years. She knows what works, what lasts and what contributes to the future of life on Earth. She is the undisputed master of continuous innovation, adaptation and, ultimately, regeneration. What if we humans could tap into the power of the Natural Intelligence that stood the test of time and model our businesses after the proven success stories of nature? What if we could fast track innovation and develop responsible products and agile organisations? We might learn to become life-friendly and self-renewing right where we are and transform our current degenerative value system into a regenerative one. This may sound like science fiction, but is already happening. In this book, Leen Gorissen, PhD in Biology, covers breakthrough insights from the life sciences and how these change the way we look at change and innovation. She shares some of the most advanced thinking and novelties in bio-inspired innovation - covering disciplines like biomimicry, biophilia, permaculture, living systems thinking, nature-based solutions and regenerative design - and clusters these nature-inspired disciplines under the umbrella of NI. Because nature is the largest R&D project in history. Millions of years of field tests have led to designs that outclass any man-made design in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, adaptability, resiliency and endurance. By tapping into the potential of NI, the business world can become an important engine of planetary regeneration and a beacon of creativity and meaningful work spreading hope and ingenuity, not despair and burn-out.