Special Exhibition

Bionik to the Future

What will our future look like?

Climate change, digitalization, scarcity of resources… How will challenges of the present be met in the future?

What will sustainable technology for our sustainable lifestyle look like? The Bionicum dares a thought experiment and travels to the year 2050. What is the connection between internet cables and spider silk or robot arms and owls’ necks? A journey through time reveals the secrets of technical developments based on nature’s models. The special exhibition Bionik to the Future shows how bionics research will make life in the future more environmentally friendly and easier. After all, the foundations for a technical yet eco-friendly future are already being laid today!

Five Bavarian universities carried out bionic research projects. To this end, they have joined forces in the BayBionik project network – financed by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection. Their mission: to use models from nature to develop resource-saving and biologically compatible technologies.

By the way, we have developed the associated app “Bionik2Future”. The digital journey through time can be played conveniently from home or booked as an educational program. It is available for Android and Apple devices:

Past Special Exhibitions

Pretty gross!

Stinky, rotten, slimy: That’s pretty disgusting! All over the world, people contort their faces in disgust. Even the evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin recognized this violent reaction as an innate instinct.
Yet engaging with the revolting also provides a special thrill, whether it’s petting creepy-crawlies or examining lice under the magnifying glass.
The special exhibition at the Bionicum explored the world of disgust between exotic delicacies and fascinating creatures. There is hidden beauty to be discovered in the supposedly disgusting.

Speechless – by no means

Barking fish, waving frogs and glowing worms: Animals communicate in many ways. In addition to sounds, they use scents, colors and even electrical signals to communicate and orient themselves. We humans can learn a lot from this – and develop animal sensors, warning systems and antennas. The special exhibition at the Bionicum in the zoo showed exactly how this works.

Nature meets architecture

Snails and mussels are specialists in mobile living. Birds build sophisticated nests and prairie dogs perfectly ventilated burrows. Grass stems, bamboo or beech trees also impress with their construction: No storm will bend them over so easily.
So it’s no wonder that architects are inspired by nature’s ingenious construction plans. The special exhibition at the Bionicum presented the results.

Nature rich in species

Biodiversity is often only perceived in connection with species protection and climate conferences. But it is the basis for securing the world’s food supply, for new medicines, for technical progress and much more. The special exhibition Species-Rich Nature in the Bionicum showed what is hidden behind this term and what influence humans have on it.