PRESS RELEASE2 May 2006
‘Ideas region’ embraces podcasting to stimulate business creativity
- Essays by Sir John Harvey Jones, Edward de Bono and Robert Heller are digitised for heightened accessibility, convenience and enjoyment.
- EEDA is early adopter of business podcasting in the public sector
The East of England – space for ideas’ campaign is embracing the latest in digital technology to inspire businesses to think more creatively. A series of original essays by world leading thinkers explaining the nature of creativity and its value to business have been recorded and digitised into a series of 12 podcasts. The new podcast format will help busy business people achieve greater accessibly and enjoyment from the essays which have proved extremely popular with 54,000 downloads of the PDF versions recorded to date.
‘How to avoid being a sitting duck’, by Sir John Harvey Jones is the first in the series to be released as a podcast and further contributions from authors including Edward de Bono, Robert Heller, Jonathon Porritt and Charles Handy will be released via the ‘space for ideas’ website on a fortnightly basis. Each podcast is between 8 and 20 minutes long and include valuable insights into creative business thinking. In Edward de Bono’s essay he says that, “Far too many people believe that creativity is just being different... for the sake of being different. True creativity must deliver value.”
Business men and women from the across the East of England and beyond can sign up for the free subscription service to have each podcast sent to them directly as soon as they are released by visiting: www.spaceforideas.uk.com.
Grounded in the region’s great heritage for original thinking and innovation, the ‘East of England - space for ideas’ campaign was launched in 2002 by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA), to showcase the region as Europe’s ideas region where innovation and creativity flourish. With a view to providing greater transparency and accessibility, EEDA is one of the first Regional Development Agencies to adopt podcasting as a business communication channel.
Charles Kitchin, marketing manager at EEDA said: “Today’s business people are very time poor so we wanted to make the essays more accessible by developing a podcast format to allow individuals to enjoy them at a time that is convenient to them, whether it be on route to a meeting, during their lunch hour or even when doing some exercise.”
Podcasting may have taken off in terms of music but there is currently very little content out there for business. It’s one thing to promote the region as the ‘ideas region’ but we want to actually deliver tangible business benefits in terms of content to help businesses take ideas forward and provoke creative thinking.”
A recent survey by market researchers BMRB showed that almost 11million people in the UK now own at least one MP3 player, and nearly one quarter of all adult internet users intend to listen to podcasts in the next six months.*
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Notes to editors
East of England – space for ideas is the campaign to promote the East of England regionally, nationally and internationally and is led by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA).
Grounded in the region’s great heritage of original thinking and innovation, the campaign demonstrates to the world that the East of England is Europe’s ideas region where innovation and creativity flourish. It is this spirit of ingenuity that is at the heart of the distinctive East of England – space for ideas brand.
The podcast series includes the following essays:
1) Sir John Harvey Jones, ‘How to avoid being a sitting duck’
2) Anne Miller, ‘Invent a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” Is this true?’
3) John Timpson, "90% of our employees are not original thinkers, but unfortunately some of them think they are, especially if they’ve been promoted to middle management."
4) Professor Richard Wiseman, “The magical ‘a-ha’ moment! Selling socks in threes instead of twos.”
5) Charles Handy, "Trust is more easily given to those whom one knows well over time. It should, therefore, be easier to trust insiders rather than outsiders, yet, perversely; we give a freer rein to outside contractors than we do to our own workforce."
6) Anne Wood, “Young children’s acceptance of uncertainty, and seeming chaos, has lots to show us about the nature of creativity.”
7) Sir John Banham, "I’ve never known anyone get up in the morning for the prospect of five percent compound growth in sales every year. They get up for a mission.”
8) Robert Heller, “Any company in any industry can work towards superior thinking and planning – to become a true Ideas Company with a competitive edge.”
9) Rev. Peter Owen Jones. “The most fertile ground for ideas is the place where thinking is shared.”
10) Baroness Susan Greenfield, “Committees are the antithesis of creativity” says Baroness Susan Greenfield.”
11) Jonathon Porritt, “In today’s world Porritt believes an organisation’s cerebral creativity must be grounded in operational creativity to make ideas happen.”
12) Edward de Bono, “You cannot make soup without water. But a bowl of water is not a bowl of soup. It is what you add to the water that gives the ‘value’ of soup.”
To download either a PDF or podcast version if the essays visit www.spaceforideas.uk.com
The Space for Ideas podcasts are also available from iTunes: www.apple.com/uk/itunes
*Survey conducted by BMRB in February 2006. For further information visit: www.bmrb.co.uk
For further information contact:Amanda Politzer, Omobono, Tel: 01763 209 388, Mobile: 7786 271 789, Email: amanda@appr.co.ukJames Reddy, East of England Development Agency, Tel: 01223 484 624, Email:
JamesReddy@eeda.org.uk
