Intervention

I was very interested to hear that a Japanese Organisation who advise on matters of economics, business and commerce attribute more than half of the greatest inventions known to the world to the ingenuity and eccentricities of the British.

That is quite credible at face value but if entirely true what has happened to dislocate the natural talents of British boffins from actual industrial and financial dominance for this nation?

Somewhere and under a combination of circumstances there has been a failure to carry  the germ of an idea through to a prototype stage and into actual large scale production?

The sole reason, the hard fact of this situation is not very nice.

Principally, it is because of the individual inventors themselves and their knack of not getting on at all well with those who, through their own and diverse talents, are essential to making a dream a reality.

A stereotypical inventor type may be percieved as a Doc Brown character from the Back to The Future Trilogy, all madness and hair to match. I have limited personal experience of meeting actual Inventors and in reality they are more likely to be quite normal in appearance, mannerisms and behaviour, perhaps even a bit on the quiet, reserved, shy and retiring side.

I did once meet a Mr Bruce Bedlam, inventor of the Bedlam Puzzle, a most intriguing and frustrating solid dissection challenge, in a tour of a rather chaotic laboratory at an East Midlands University. He did appear reasonably normal but evidently thinking and existing at a higher level of consciousness than us mere mortals, well alright, just me. Although only a very brief introduction was made he did make quite an impression.

However, to reinforce the missing link between inspirational ideas and actual sales and profits I have not been able to find and buy a Bedlam Puzzle anywhere in the High Street or on the world wide web.

What is the process to alert the world to the next best idea if you happen to have it?

The Patent Registration Process is often pursued to protect the intellectual property rights of an invention but this can be a very long, drawn out and expensive process. So much so that it is reasonable to presume that ideas which may have potential to revolutionise the way we exist as a species could be sat in a drawer, the ink fading on the blueprint because of a lack of funds to progress to the next stage.

I feel sorry for those inventors who have to resort to the freak-show style of such TV programmes as Dragons Den in order to secure some form of financial backing or access to the expertise and networking that has so far eluded them. A few who have made it up the stairs into the Den have been reduced to a state of nervous distraction and meltdown and this has been pounced upon as being a sign of weakness by those sat behind the piles of cash.

This fracture in what should be a seamless process from idea to product has been addressed to some degree through the actions of a new breed of business advisors.

They take the responsibity for organising and assembling a team of experts and specialists who form the front and public face for an invention. Disciplines cover the complimentary roles of production, financing, marketing and media relations leaving the inventors protected and cushioned from distractions in their workrooms, labs and sheds to pursue their main activity of invention.

Through this structured approach an invention can be brought up to at least a working prototype in order for it to be demonstrated to the money men. It is however a reasonably recent innovation to assemble an effective team.

James Dyson recounted how he had been to his local bank branch to try to obtain a six figure loan for his pioneering invention of the dual cyclone vacuum cleaner. This was in the days when he had to do everything himself from drawing board through, hopefully ,to stacking the shop display shelf. The bank manager did not appear to grasp the technology or concept of the system or appreciate the inspirational thought behind it by its inventor. A working model was left with the manager but James Dyson did not get  a decision. It took some weeks for the bank to agree to the full request for funding. When asked what had been the critical factor in accepting the business proposal the manager said that his wife, on using the prototype, had thought a bagless system was a brilliant idea.

So it appears that the exposure of an idea and invention to the world can be susceptible to failure on such grounds as personality and presentation but this may always have been the case. Other ideas may be killed off at any early stage because they are just too damaging to the social and economic order that operates even for all its faults and failings.

Of course the conspiracy theorists will hark on that a domestic fuel produced from air and water has been proven to be viable but the technology and intellectual rights has been purchased lock, stock and barrel by the oil companies and will never see the light of day.