Invention-related news and opinion. Replies are welcome, though real names are preferred and posts may be edited.

Invention is for grown-ups

Date: 06/09/2010

Further despair at the way the media treat invention. The British Library is currently running an event called Inventing the 21st Century, a ‘celebration of British ingenuity’ with the aim of getting more of us inventing.

Fine. So Radio 4’s flagship Today programme does a piece on it and their main interviewee is... an eight-year old boy. The excellent Mark Sheahan, the British Library’s inventor in residence, is on too but his role is mainly to respond to the kid and his ‘invention’ - some kind of double-headed brush.

(The boy has reportedly patented it but there are no plans to market the product. His parents may not have read our free download ‘Patenting Your Invention: the Ugly Truth’.)

Now I’ve got nothing against eight-year olds. I’ve got one of my own currently and have previously had two more. But I’m getting thoroughly pissed off with the way the media regard invention as something that only children, eccentrics and the occasional ‘young mum’ do. Invention is for grown-ups. And, moreover, grown-ups who can handle themselves skilfully in an environment that is risky, costly and merciless. Invention is a serious branch of business and enterprise. Once you cross a certain line, it isn’t a hobby or a childish indulgence any more. Will the media ever get that? At this rate it seems unlikely.

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