'Invention should be on the national curriculum'

There are bachelors of art and of science, so why not have bachelors of invention, says Trevor Baylis

Although I have written many times about the creation of the clockwork radio, I don't think many people realise what a struggle it was to bring this invention to the market. I believe everybody should know more about what is involved in inventing. When I used to call myself an inventor, people would look at me as if to say: "Who does he think he is, Einstein? Frank Whittle?" There was a suggestion that to be an inventor you had to have a Viennese accent, broken glasses and a white-coat, and yet, ironically, I truly believe there is an invention in all of us.

And I believe that chance favours the prepared mind. At the age of five I couldn't write my name, but I could make the most amazing things with my Meccano set. I could identify nuts, bolts, screws, washers, spanners, gears etc; I also had a fantastic clockwork motor.

I do a lot of after-dinner speaking and I always ask the audience: "How many of you were taught about intellectual property at school?" No response. I tell them that nobody pays you for a good idea, but they may pay you for a piece of paper that says you own that idea. It could be a patent, a design registration, a trademark, or copyright.

My next question is: "Do you know what the word disclosure means?" This is important because if you go to the pub and tell everyone about your good idea, you have, in effect, lost all entitlement to it. (But if you can't talk to anyone about it, who do you talk to? Yourself - hence the expression "mad inventor".)

Because I knew about intellectual property, when I invented the wind-up radio I knew I needed to file for a patent. I thought I could do this myself, but the Patent Office (now the Intellectual Property Office) strongly recommended I use a patent attorney. Patent attorneys (lawyers) may be expensive, but they turn the specification for an invention into a legal description of the invention that would prevent people from stealing the idea by circumventing the patent.

Once I had the patent application, I approached everybody I thought might have an interest in a radio that worked without batteries. The response I received from the Design Council has pride of place in my house: "It is very unlikely that UK industry could enter profitably into a licensing agreement with this product. The major customers are third world countries which, with severe debts, would not be in the position to pay for this device. The extent to which component parts could be manufactured in the UK was also felt to be limited." I made it in my garden shed!

Many British inventors have been treated in the same way as I was. I realised it was because we had not been educated properly to understand our situation. None of us had all the skills needed to bring our ideas to market.

The only way out of this dilemma is to put invention on the national curriculum. People say: "You can't teach invention." But, then, you can't teach art.

I think it essential that students learn about the history of invention, from flintstone tools to silicone chips, and how these inventions have changed all our lives, socially and commercially. And the inventors? What happened to them? Did they become extremely rich, or did the profits go to others? Who helped them bring their ideas to market?

Students should also study prototypes - how to make them and how important they are to sell the idea; business plans; health and safety; venture capital and, most important of all, the procurement of the intellectual property. All these subjects could easily be embraced into the curriculum.

There are bachelors of art, bachelors of science, so why not have bachelors of invention? The difference between these qualifications would be that a BI would only be granted to someone who has filed for a patent that is unique and socially and commercially viable. Because it can take three or four years to get a fully granted patent, at this stage, they would become a Master of Invention, and for someone who goes big-time into industry or commerce, there would be a Doctor of Invention.

I believe that achievement is more important than qualifications. To become a BI wouldn't necessarily mean that you have attended a college or university - these awards could be presented to anyone who comes up with that great idea. All my 12 doctorates are honorary!

Employers looking to hire staff would find a candidate with a BI more attractive than one with a BA or a BSc, because the BI would have the potential to make the company extremely rich.

Also, every university in the land should have a "breakout room" where any local inventor could safely go to discuss their ideas and be steered in the right direction.

Remember, art is pleasure, invention is treasure. Chance favours the prepared mind.

UK Intellectual Property Office: www.ipo.gov.uk

Today's best video

Today in pictures