The Unnatural Economy - Part 5: The Corporate Jungle: The High Cost of the "Not Invented Here" Syndrome
The Unnatural Economy: Reclaiming Nature's 3.8 Billion Year Design Manual 1 The Unnatural Economy - Part 1: The One Percent Solution: Why 3.8 Billion Years of R&D Matters 2 The Unnatural Economy - Part 2: The Spiral Mandate: Why Nature Never Uses a Straight Line 3 The Unnatural Economy - Part 3: Dragging the Past: From Sharkskin to Supersonic Efficiency 4 The Unnatural Economy - Part 4: The Zero-Waste Blueprint: Fungi, Mussels, and Green Chemistry 5 The Unnatural Economy - Part 5: The Corporate Jungle: The High Cost of the "Not Invented Here" Syndrome ← Series Home Key Takeaways NIH syndrome: “Not Invented Here” resistance kills promising biomimetic innovations. Financial barriers: Venture capital demands unrealistic returns, while industrial timelines require patient capital. Institutional inertia: Government and military procurement can take 10+ years. Entrepreneurial adaptation: Success requires navigating corporate psychology and finding niche markets. The Dolphin Boat Breakthrough The path into the traditional boating world, an ultraconservative industry, began with a moment of validation: the radically curved, dolphin-modeled WildThing watercraft was so compelling that it forced the judges at an international boat show to award it a shared first prize over the massive, costly displays of industry giants like Yamaha. The boat’s organic shape, designed for minimal drag and maximal lift, was a direct application of biological streamlining. ...