Britain's got big ideas, but does nothing about them

[Dauphin]

Ok, so I was playing Trivial Pursuits earlier, and one of the questions was (paraphrased) "Which country has accounted for 55% of all commercially viable inventions since the end of WW2, according to a Japanese Ministry of Trade Study?". The answer was Britain.

I proceeded to do a little research and apparently the report also said that the US accounts for 25%, and Japan 5%.


Its just a shame we don't support these inventions and inventors more.

[Cruddy]

Agreed. Personally I think accountant dominated business practce, allied with the banks commitment to short term/high return has a lot to do with lack of investment in new ideas.

[Ted Striker]

As an aside Japan invents very little, rathar they have always been the best at taking existing ideas and fine tuning them.

[GePap]

Damn, you English fellows need to get better patent lawyers.

[Urban Ranger]

UK firms tend to be more conservative than US and Japanese ones.

[Drake Tungsten]

More conservative than Japanese firms? I didn't think that was possible.

[Urban Ranger]

Are you kidding? Japanese firms adopt new manufacturing technology much faster than other ones. For example, they are the first ones to use robotic arms for carmaking.

[Boris Godunov]

Invent air conditioning and cook books, and you'll be fine.

[Drake Tungsten]

Are you kidding? Japanese firms adopt new manufacturing technology much faster than other ones. For example, they are the first ones to use robotic arms for carmaking.

Somewhat true. The electronics and automoblie manufacturing sectors aren't nearly as conservative as the rest of the Japanese industrial sector; they can't afford to be, as their industries aren't protected from foreign competition like other Japanese industries. On the whole, however, Japanese firms are still very conservative, maybe not as conservative as British firms (don't know much about British firms), but conservative nonetheless.

[Dauphin]

Britain is very conservative about employing new methods. Its how we pissed away a 100 year lead in industrialisation.

[MikeH]

We don't have any manufacturing industry here any more either really. Almost all those inventions have to be made overseas.

[The Viceroy]

I don't think the issue is one of making the goods, we simply do not have enough support for the good idea's. Dyson really had to struggle to do what he did, it should not be so hard. He is now planning to move production abroad, and good luck to him.

What I want to know is, how did it change ?? People like Brunnel and Stevenson would have got nowhere in todays climate, so why did we suddenly become affraid to take risks, is it some hang over from the world wars ? or loss of empire ??

[Sandman]

It's our miserable penny-pinching mentality. We could really use some of Brunel's drive.

[Starchild]

No one in the establishment really wants to dream anymore. Some parts of the culture have become so steeped in the concept of gradual change and conservativism that those who want to reach the stars get pushed aside. I mean, we have the technology to make Brunel's greatest triumphs look like the works of an ant yet we don't try. We could have bridges across the Irish Sea or high-speed trains that connect Plymouth to Aberdeen in two hours travel time or buildings that touch the sky. But do we? Hell, we can't even get our current train network working and, for the life of me, seem reistant to the idea of tube networks anywhere outside London. Why on earth don't Birmingham or Manchester or the other big cities have their own tube networks like big cities in other countries do?

[Saras]

Originally posted by Sandman
It's our miserable penny-pinching mentality. We could really use some of Brunel's drive.

Isembard Kingdom Brunel. What a name! What a man!