Assitive ecologies - biomimetic design of ambient intelligence

Facing great challenges in designing better assistive technology with ever more complex and pervasive IT systems we need a general change in our understanding of designing IT. Ways to improve the performance of IT without drowning in complexity are of prime importance. This paper presents biomimetic design of ambient intelligence as a candidate heuristic for the task. It is shown how better assistive functionality goes hand in hand with improved infrastructural capacities by mimicking natural complex systems. On the basis of a presentation of organizational and developmental issues addressed by modern biological models we suggest preliminary design constraints for ambient intelligence ecologies.