NESTA - Making Innovation Flourish
NESTA - Making Innovation Flourish
Tuesday 24th October, 2006
Business Design Centre, London.
The National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA) held their annual event at the Business Design Centre in London earlier this week.
Titled "Making Innovation Flourish" the day had an exciting list of keynote speakers including - Secretary of State Tessa Jowell and former Finnish Prime Minister Esko Aho. Finland currently holds the presidency of the European Union and Mr. Aho presented his findings on the EU's Report on Innovation which he led. There were also round table discussions with international guest panellists including US economist, Dr. Irwin Stelzer, Dean of London Business School, Professor Laura Tyson and entrepreneur, Simon Woodroffe (as well known for his performances on the Dragon's Den as his ownership of sushi chain Yo! sushi).
The event has been heralded as the largest single showcase of innovative ideas and thinking in the UK and I arrived hoping not only to hear the latest political and policy but also to meet entrepreneurs, investors, educators and journalists interested in entrepreneurship and enterprise.
The day began for me with Tessa Jowell's keynote address, the room although large was struggling to contain the sheer number of delegates who wanted to hear the Rt. Hon. Secretary of State's views and plans for encouraging innovation in the UK.
Ms. Jowell first talked a great deal in general terms about excellence in enterprise but the 'meat' of the speech came when she began to talk the UK's relationship with developing powers such as China. A great deal has been made of the threat from emerging markets but Ms. Jowell argued that countries such as China still lack a comprehensive education system and their resulting knowledge gap could be exploited by those with complimentary skills. She suggested the UK could provide knowledge economy workers in a complimentary relationship removing the need for a competitive stance.
Ms. Jowell talked about her 'Creative Economy Programme' which she said aimed to improve the UK's contribution to innovation and enterprise internationally. She outlined aims in three main areas - drawing on our unique cultural heritage and showcasing 'Englishness' around the world, equipping people with the skills necessary for innovation (creativity, imagination and analytical thinking) and providing Creative Apprenticeships. The speaker also stated her belief that creativity is an increasingly collaborative, communicative and iterative process and that to make innovation flourish we need to ensure these skills are present and developing.
The findings of Ms. Jowell's review will be published in a green paper this Spring.
Next the audience was addressed by Esko Aho, former Prime Minster of Finland and President of SITRA. He began his speech with a series of simple yet provocative questions; 'what is innovation?' 'what is the opposite of innovation?' and 'what is the difference between research and development and innovation?' Mr. Aho's answers were equally thought provoking - argued that innovation although difficult to define became easier to benchmark when considered in relation to what it is not. He listed practices which he felt were the opposite of innovation such as imitation and worked towards a clearer definition in this way. Mr. Aho suggested research and development focused on the transformation of money into knowledge while innovation tried to transform knowledge into benefits such as money, welfare and well-being.
The speaker talked at length about the very particular set of circumstances that allowed Finland to become such a beacon of innovation and enterprise and argued that although lessons could be learnt from the Finnish experience there was no single model which allowed enterprise to flourish.
After a networking break we re-convened to listen to a panel session discussing the UK and Global Competitiveness. This was a highlight of the day for me throwing up a number of interesting points from an outstanding group of individuals with some equally well-conceived floor questions. Jonathan Freedland (Guardian columnist) chaired the discussions and proved a good match for the three strong personalities on the platform. Dr. Irwin Stelzer came down strongly on the side of small business, advocating common sense, non-intervention and the abolition of red-tape for businesses beneath a certain threshold. Professor Laura Tyson suggested that the UK had a great deal to feel positive about although the climate for innovation was still far from perfect. Simon Woodroffe was outspoken in his opinions stating that educating innovators was more about real world experience than theoretical knowledge. Esko Aho struggled to be heard among the sometimes raised voices on the podium but he also argued that the UK's position was an enviable one which should be cultivated further to ensure a continued prominence in the international knowledge economy.
In the afternoon I attended "What Are The Skills And Attitudes Required For Future Innovators" - throughout the day the links between education and enterprise were constantly debated and this session promised to address this relationship in depth. Unfortunately the session focused predominantly on policy change at primary and secondary school level with little discussion of Higher Education. However, the question 'why is there no correlation between Higher Education and innovation/entrepreneurship and if there is why is it negative' had been raised. Much of the day's discussion seemed to suggest that the existing school system breeds risk averse, unimaginative individuals stifling their creativity and innovation. Tom Hadfield (founder of Soccernet.com) stated repeatedly that he developed entrepreneurial skills in spite of, not because of, his school education. In response Mike Rumble (senior manager of Curriculum Futures at the Qualifications and Curriculum's Authority) argued that attitudes and attributes were the most important things a system could teach. I felt that this discussion ignored much that is of value in developing specific knowledge sets, whilst learning 'facts and figures' students should also be developing the ability to learn and other transferable skills such as self-discipline, and persistence. Learning set syllabuses may prove detrimental for some students but for others it provides a framework through which their intellectual curiosity grows. The arguments in this session seemed to suggest that creativity and risk were key traits of future entrepreneurs while discipline, reasoning, a strong work ethic and persistence were dismissed as less glamorous attributes. There was also a sense at which these were 'long view' discussions and their success will ultimately rest with the projects, policies and people who try to translate these aims into action.
The day was a clear indication of the breadth of co-operation needed to augment change on any subject and the voices of the many stake-holder groups present were often discordant. However, the overall sense was of a rising optimism and enthusiasm for the UK's role as innovator and knowledge economy leader. Critical mass has yet to be achieved but innovation is beginning to flourish...
