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Learning from nature – Stefano Semprini

Hosted by: Andani
June 23, 2026
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Timeline

  • 00:00 Introducing Stefano Semprini
  • 04:28 Welcome aboard: Cape Town's deep south, near where My Octopus Teacher was filmed
  • 06:00 An engineering thesis, MOOCs, and renewable energy as the key to African empowerment
  • 08:07 South Africa's REI4P renewable energy program
  • 11:36 Quitting on principle: idealists are the real realists
  • 13:32 Teaching solar to students with 40-watt DIY kits (Project 90 by 2030)
  • 19:06 Discovering biomimicry
  • 24:14 Old paradigm vs. biomimicry: the water bottle and the cactus
  • 25:47 Regenerative design: "life creates conditions conducive to life"
  • 29:08 Energy blindness: why renewables alone are a band-aid
  • 30:11 Efficiency is 70–80% of the game (the 90-degree pipe example)
  • 38:00 Regenerative agriculture and a farm experiment that imploded in COVID
  • 42:04 The dark night of the soul at 30
  • 47:47 Starting over in Ireland: building a house, joining Native Events
  • 52:09 Becoming co-director of BiomimicrySA
  • 57:58 The UNDP + CSIR community project
  • 1:05:05 BiomimicrySA's three pillars: connect, educate, activate
  • 1:07:11 Rewilding education
  • 1:11:17 The Global South: leapfrogging, scaling out, and avoiding dependency
  • 1:19:04 Avoiding burnout: sleep, ocean swims, and six focused hours
  • 1:21:49 Why he chose to come home to the Global South
  • 1:24:31 Advice to changemakers on the edge of giving up: "Call me."
  • 1:25:47 Closing: "I want to be a good ancestor"

Summary

Why do we keep buying new iPhones every 1-2 years while building cruise ships that cost the earth?

Working in the renewable energy sector, we are always chasing impact through bigger systems and larger projects. When we encountered biomimicry, we see it as a fresh lens to reframe problems. It’s about asking: what can nature teach us to create systems that are regenerative, not extractive? In this conversation with Stefano Semprini, we explore regenerative agriculture, community-driven projects, rethinking education, and the ongoing journey of learning.

Seeing ourselves as part of ecosystems is revolutionary.

The Guest: Bio

Meet Stefano Semprini

Stefano Semprini is a mechatronic engineer turned regenerative agriculture designer and biomimicry practitioner. As Nature-Based Solutions Lead at theOtherDada and co-director of BiomimicrySA, he applies biomimicry principles to farming, systems design, and community-driven projects — exploring how nature's own patterns can guide us toward regenerative, rather than extractive, ways of building and living.

Nature-Based Solutions Lead & Biomimicry Practitioner — theOtherDada / BiomimicrySA

Stefano Semprini

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Frequently asked questions

We’re happy to answer your questions

What is biomimicry in simple terms?
Biomimicry is the practice of learning from and imitating nature’s time-tested strategies to solve human design challenges — treating a forest, a termite mound, or a leaf as 3.8 billion years of R&D.
Nature builds systems that run on renewable energy, produce no waste, and adapt locally. Applying those principles helps us design energy systems that are regenerative and community-fitted rather than extractive and one-size-fits-all.
Sustainable aims to do no further harm; regenerative aims to actively restore — soils, ecosystems, and communities. Stefano argues the energy transition should aim for regeneration, not just sustainability.
Wind turbine blades modeled on humpback whale fins, buildings cooled like termite mounds (such as Harare’s Eastgate Centre), and solar research inspired by photosynthesis.
Stefano Semprini is a biomimicry practitioner and regenerative agriculture specialist, formerly co-director of BiomimicrySA, focused on applying nature’s design principles to systems change.

Stories of Energy and Sustainability

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