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Biomimicry & regenerative design

Michael Pawlyn

Michael Pawlyn helps organisations unlock commercially viable innovation through biomimicry, regenerative design, and circular economy thinking. He advises multinationals and governments, has over two million TED talk views, and has delivered keynotes for Google, Forbes, and The Economist.

Trusted by Anglo American, Forbes, Google

Michael Pawlyn, Speaker | Architect & Biomimicry
Michael Pawlyn

Michael Pawlyn

London, United Kingdom

Typical fee range

£2k–5k

This is an estimated fee range for local in-person events. Location and format affect the final fee.

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London, United Kingdom

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Michael Pawlyn's biography

At a glance

  • Pioneer of biomimicry in architecture and design
  • Central to the team that designed The Eden Project
  • TED speaker with over 2 million views
Michael Pawlyn is an architect, writer, and strategist recognised as a leading voice in regenerative design and biomimicry. He helps organisations move beyond sustainability towards genuinely restorative ways of operating. Michael founded Exploration Architecture in 2007 after ten years at Grimshaw, where he was central to the team behind the Eden Project. His TED talk has been viewed over two million times, and his book Biomimicry in Architecture has become the publisher's best-selling title of the last fifteen years. Michael draws on billions of years of natural adaptation to solve practical design problems, showing organisations how principles from ecosystems can inform higher-performing buildings, circular economy strategies, and zero waste systems. He has advised start-ups, multinationals, and governments, including delivering keynotes for Google, Anglo American, and the Financial Times, translating complex environmental science into commercially relevant action. Audiences leave his talks with a clear framework for distinguishing regenerative practice from conventional sustainability, concrete examples of nature-inspired innovation they can apply to their own industry, and practical steps for building a circular economy strategy. His work on projects like the Sahara Forest Project demonstrates these ideas at scale. Book Michael to give audiences a rigorous, example-rich case for regenerative leadership grounded in real built projects. Photo © Cecilie Bannow

Michael's showreel and videos

Topics, sessions and talks

From Sustainable To Regenerative
Many organisations now recognise that conventional sustainability, based on trying to be less bad, has not delivered the scale of change environmental challenges demand. Yet there is often little clarity about what a genuinely regenerative approach means in practice. Drawing on Flourish, the book he co-authored with Sarah Ichioka, Michael Pawlyn sets out the philosophical shift and the practical steps involved in moving from sustainable to regenerative operations, and why the change strengthens leadership, performance, and talent retention.
Innovation Inspired By Nature
Nature has spent 3.8 billion years refining minimum energy processes, high efficiency materials, and zero waste systems. Michael Pawlyn shows how this discipline, known as biomimicry, offers some of the most fertile ground for innovation available to businesses today. Through a wide range of examples from the natural world, he demonstrates how these adaptations can be translated into solutions that deliver higher performance at lower long-term cost, alongside related nature-based approaches such as biophilia.
How To Lead In The Circular Economy
Regulation and expectation are pushing companies to move from linear, wasteful operations towards circular, zero waste stewardship of resources. Michael Pawlyn argues that one of the biggest untapped opportunities lies in bringing cycles of energy, water, food, and materials together in synergistic ways. Drawing on lessons from ecosystems and proven examples from cities, buildings, and industries, he shows how organisations can lead in the circular economy while unlocking secondary benefits, from enhanced biodiversity to entirely new waste entrepreneurship sectors.

Why we recommend booking Michael

Michael Pawlyn's grounding in regenerative design, from the Eden Project to the Sahara Forest Project, offers a route from sustainability and circular economy goals to practical strategy at scale.

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Trusted by Anglo American, Forbes, Google

Testimonials

We asked Michael to give an opening keynote for our most important event of the year - a three-day conference attended by 250 of our most senior colleagues. He rose to the challenge brilliantly with a talk that was informative, inspiring and energising.

Siobhan Oates

Group Head Sustainable Development, Anglo American

Michael, Thank you! It was a very inspiring talk and you received very positive feedback from many of the participants. Well done!

Allan Jaenicke

McKinsey & Company

Michael was fantastic! The audience absolutely loved his lecture. Couldn’t have been a better way to launch the series.

Colleen McLaughlin

Natural History Museum of Utah

Featured Projects

Michael Pawlyn - Biomimicry in Architecture book cover
Michael Pawlyn - Flourish book cover
Michael Pawlyn - Flourish Systems Change podcast cover

frequently asked questions

Something we've not covered here?

How do I book Michael Pawlyn for my next event?
Email michael.pawlyn@getapeptalk.com or call PepTalk on +44 20 3835 2929 (UK) or +1 737 888 5112 (US), and one of our speaker agents will contact you within hours to confirm Michael's availability and fees. If you can, please include your budget upfront – it helps us fast-track your request. It’s also helpful to know the date, format (virtual or in-person), location, and a bit about your audience.
What is Michael Pawlyn's speaking style like?
Michael Pawlyn structures his talks around cross-industry examples drawn from natural systems, using documented built projects and ecosystem principles to illustrate how biological adaptations translate into commercial and design applications.
What topics does Michael Pawlyn specialise in?
Michael Pawlyn speaks on regenerative design, biomimicry and nature-inspired innovation, and circular economy leadership. He was central to the team behind the Eden Project at Grimshaw, his TED talk has exceeded two million views, and his book Biomimicry in Architecture is the publisher's best-selling title of the past fifteen years.
What does 'typical fee range' mean?

Speaker fees vary based on factors like event location, format, and availability. The 'typical fee range' figure gives you a baseline of someone's local, in-person rate sits, and we'll confirm the exact fee when you get in touch.

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