In a collection of new essays released today, Dr. Edward de Bono, Baroness Susan Greenfield, Professor Richard Wiseman, Jonathon Porritt and other eminent thinkers, argue that ideas are the most powerful weapon for businesses. In a world where products can be copied overnight, ideas are the new capital.

Their essays are part of the ground-breaking East of England – space for ideas campaign; which is set to cement the East of England’s reputation as the UK’s ideas region.

“Any company in any business can work towards superior thinking and planning” writes Robert Heller, management writer and founding editor of Management Today, continuing that it will produce “a competitive edge as sharp as any technological lead. The future will be won by such companies.”

Several of the writers make the case that businesses need to take a more structured, less haphazard, approach to generating and activating new ideas. Businesses should “treat creativity as seriously as we treat capital, labour, machinery and IT” says Dr. Edward de Bono. “While creativity remains everyone’s business, nothing happens. Someone needs to be in charge of the process.”

As Baroness Susan Greenfield argues: “People put a premium on facts and can access them fast and furiously. But there is a big difference between information and knowledge”.

Richard Ellis, Chair of EEDA (The East of England Development Agency), the organisation leading the East of England – space for ideas campaign, says “Knowledge drives business. We want to give our businesses the kind of support not found anywhere else in the UK. By showing companies how to have ideas we are helping them to consider new ways of shaping their futures.”

Ends

Further information:
Francesca Brosan / Alastair Barber
Omobono Ltd
Tel: 01223 307000

Or visit: www.spaceforideas.uk.com 

Notes to editors
1/ EEDA is the regional development agency for the East of England (Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk). It acts as a regional catalyst for economic development.

2/ The East of England - space for ideas campaign was launched in January 2002 to generate value for the region.  Grounded in the East of England’s close association with original thinking and innovation, the campaign has received the backing and involvement of some of the country’s most successful individuals and businesses who are both based in the region and continue its heritage of innovation.  These include people like Professor Stephen Hawking, Paula Radcliff and Bill Jordan of Jordan’s foods.

3/ Some key events and dates in the campaign are:
The Ideas Audit
Management guru and founding Editor of Management Today, Robert Heller, has visited some of the region’s most successful companies (ARM, Charles Wells, and HFL Ltd) to audit how they encourage, support and profit from innovation and new thinking.  On 17 June he will use the findings of these audits as the basis for a masterclass on innovation to an invited audience of 40 managing directors and business leaders from across the region.

Ideas Talk
On 7 July, Edward de Bono, founder of the world centre for new thinking and originator of the concept of lateral thinking– will give the second in the series of the East of England IDEAS talks.  To be held at the de Havilland Campus at the University of Hertfordshire, the event will be hosted by Charles Leadbeater. 

Ideas Generation
On June 11, the East of England Ideas Generation website will go live.  At its heart will be original articles and advice on generating, developing and applying new ideas and original thinking. 

4/ Biographies:
Dr. Edward de Bono is regarded as the leading authority in the world in the direct teaching of thinking as a skill.  His instruction in thinking has been sought by major corporations such as:  IBM, Microsoft, Prudential, GM, Ford and Citicorp. His work is also in use in thousands of schools around the world and mandatory on the curriculum in some countries. He has lectured in 57 countries and has written 65 books.

Baroness Susan Greenfield is currently a Senior Research Fellow at Lincoln College, and an Honorary Fellow at St Hilda's College, Oxford. In 1998 she was appointed Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain.

In 1994 she was the first woman to give the Royal Institution Christmas lectures and has made a wide range of broadcasts on TV and radio. She gave the Dimbleby Lecture in 1999 and has written and presented a series of four programmes for BBC Radio 4 on drugs, followed by a major six part series on the brain and mind, 'Brain Story', broadcast on BBC2 in July 2000, Greenfield has also developed an interest in science policy. 

Robert Heller is Britain’s most successful business author and founding Editor of Management Today, Robert is an expert writer on a wide range of management related topics including thinking as a management skill. His management expertise is crystallised in a number of influential and best-selling books, The Naked Manager, The Supermanagers and Roads to Success. He is Chairman of the Leading Change Partnership and a leading member of the Global Future Forum. He regularly speaks to management audiences.

Jonathon Porritt is an eminent writer, broadcaster and commentator on sustainable development.  A former Director of Friends of the Earth and co-chair of the Green Party, he was appointed by the Prime Minister as Chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission in July 2000. Jonathon received a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection.

Reverend Peter Owen Jones began his working life as a farm labourer. There followed a career as an advertising copywriter working for some of London’s most creatively renowned agencies.

In the early 1990’s, Peter turned his back on the commercial world to train as a priest and is currently the Vicar of Haslingfield, a rural parish in Cambridgeshire.

Most recently, Peter presented The Battle for Britain's Soul, a four-part series on BBC Two looking at how major events in history were led by disputes in the Christian church. Former adman turned Vicar, Peter is passionate about ideas and creativity and its benefits on mind and soul.

Professor Richard Wiseman is Head of the Perrott-Warrick Research Unit at the University of Hertfordshire. He studies unusual areas within psychology, with recent work examining the psychological differences between exceptionally lucky and unlucky people, culminating in his best selling book “The Luck Factor”. A media favourite, Professor Wiseman has appeared on numerous television and radio shows.

He started his working life as an award-winning professional magician and was one of the youngest members of The Magic Circle. He then obtained a first class honours degree in Psychology from University College London and a doctorate in psychology from the University of Edinburgh.

His ongoing research includes the Luck Project, which examines psychological differences between exceptionally lucky and unlucky people, and develops techniques to enhance luck.

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