Enhancing novelty with knowledge-based support for Biologically-Inspired Design

•First impact quantification of a knowledge-based bio-ideation tool.•An experimental setup and analyses that advances previous BID studies.•Consistent evidence supporting novelty increase when using AskNature.

With a two-decade consistent research interest for Systematic Biologically-Inspired Design, a number of methods and tools to support bio-ideation have been proposed. However, objective quantification of the effects these aids have on the design outcomes is rare. This contribution presents an impact analysis of the most popular knowledge-based tool, AskNature, in the form of an outcome-based study. The results consistently support a common claim used in favour of bio-inspired design, i.e. the expectation of identifying more out-of-the-box solutions. Furthermore, to further facilitate biological solution analysis and cross-domain knowledge transfer, an adaptation to AskNature's stimuli format - i.e. adding a graphical illustration of the biological solution principle - is validated to further boost novelty.