http://www.innovateuk.org/ en lee.mullin@tsb.gov.uk It is often easy to identify the moment when an idea crystallises but then to forget all the half-formed ideas and blind alleys that led to it. As we get close to the actual Clean and Cool Mission, I was explaining its history to a colleague and realised what an interesting story it was, so thought recording it might have value. (Imagine this scrolling up across your screen as in the beginning of Star Wars…) http://www.innovateuk.org/content/blog/david-bott/into-the-valley-of-silicon-rode-the-twenty-and-hel.ashx Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:37:49 GMT Over the last few weeks, I have been asked quite a few times about how companies can get support from the Technology Strategy Board... http://www.innovateuk.org/content/blog/david-bott/the-right-tool-for-the-job.ashx Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:00:57 GMT Over the last 30 months, almost from the start of the Technology Strategy Board as a separate organisation, two questions have kept being asked of us – and probably of others. The first, cast usually in a rather downbeat way, is “Will the UK ever produce a company like Google?” http://www.innovateuk.org/content/blog/david-bott/of-google-and-geckos-feet.ashx Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:51:32 GMT Innovation is risky. But there are many ways to reduce the risk, and one is modelling developments first. Modelling and simulation have been a part of science from the beginning, enabling us to play “what-if” games without the consequences of action in the real world. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/blog/david-bott/system-avatars.ashx Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:13:29 GMT Over the last few weeks, two themes seem to have forced their way to the front of my consciousness. The first is small and medium sized companies and how they get access to the markets that can help them grow... http://www.innovateuk.org/content/blog/david-bott/spotless-and-sub-zero1.ashx Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:57:59 GMT One of the advantages of the organisational promiscuity that has characterised my career is that I have worked for and with many people. Some have been both successful and fun to work with... http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/there-are-no-big-problems.ashx Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:42:06 GMT A couple of weeks ago, I spoke at Digital Engagement 2009. This was held at Church House in London and was focused on local government and (as it implies in the title) digital engagement – or was it? What I think I learned... http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/do-you-want-to-be-included-or-engaged.ashx Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:00:12 GMT Over the last few weeks, I have been involved in several meetings about start-ups, but on Tuesday last week I was pitched in at the deep end. I got to spend most of the day at Seedcamp... http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/tough-love-for-the-young-ones.ashx Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:57:23 GMT One of the questions we often get asked is whether we pick companies or types of companies for our support. We don’t. What we do is to try to identify areas where the UK has strength (or potential) and use the challenges facing that area to frame our competitions... http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/variety-is-the-spice-of-business-.ashx Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:31:08 GMT Last week also saw the second Low Carbon Vehicles event at Millbrook. Organised jointly by Cenex, the Department for Transport, the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, the Energy Technologies Institute and ourselves, this is an excellent demonstration... http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/emerald-the-luxury-end-of-green.ashx Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:16:06 GMT One of the joys of this job is the privilege of seeing what companies actually do. Last week I exercised that privilege at the Perkins factory in Peterborough... http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/enough-power-for-a-country.ashx Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:06:28 GMT For some time now, we have been working with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), Medical Research Council (MRC) and Office for Strategic Co-ordination of Health Research (OSCHR) on the concept of “stratified medicine”. The concept is disarmingly simple – once you have got your head around it! http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/pattern-recognition-amongst-the-challenges.ashx Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:33:56 GMT When we were set up as a “non-departmental public body at arms length from Government” just over 2 years ago, we inherited a set of “tools” to enable us to carry out our role. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/helping-to-pave-the-way.ashx Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:42:43 GMT One of the by-products of our recent activities in low carbon vehicles is that we have built some new relationships and get involved in more activities than we used to. So it was that, the other week, I went out as part of a UK group to see what Nissan are doing about zero emission mobility. It was a fascinating day. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/the-soul-of-a-new-machine.ashx Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:00:58 GMT Writing a blog like this is an interesting experience. Some weeks, you can see easily what you can write about and some weeks you have to fall back on a timeless theme. Then at other times, and often over several weeks, you have a series of meetings that ought to have no interaction with one another and, as you go through them, something just screams at you to comment on... http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/chips-with-everything.ashx Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:54:05 GMT For some time now, we have been working with the Design Council to try to find a way to build a greater element of “design thinking” into the front end of our programmes and projects. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/action-is-a-consequence-of-thought-not-a-substitut.ashx Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:13:41 GMT I should start by owning up to being an Apple fanboy. Since I threw off the yoke of corporate IT oppression, I have always had Macs. From the first 12” PowerBook G4 to my current Air, I just like the way they work in the way I expect them to. My semi-religious zeal has spread like a virus through my family. My children have a range of Macs and my wife carries my Mark 1 Air around as if her life depended on it. Then comes the great coincidence... http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/am-i-too-old-to-have-a-hero-or-was-hemingway-right.ashx Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:25:13 GMT There are many questions I have run into during my career, but the most vexing has been that of how to value research. So I was interested to read a well-balanced piece in Times Higher Education last week. As a research manager/director in several organisations, I was often asked to justify investment in research (or at least, the parts that I was responsible for!)... http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/is-it-better-to-ask-permission-than-to-seek-forgiv.ashx Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:20:24 GMT Although life within the Technology Strategy Board is rarely boring, every now and then, a day comes along that reaches new heights of strangeness, and last Tuesday was such a day. It was the day that we were to formally announce the results of our Ultra Low Carbon Vehicle Demonstration Programme. Given that it had evolved from a £10m/100 car trial to a £25m/340car programme, we decided a month or so ago that we ought to make a bit of a fuss about it. It was, as far as we could see, the largest.. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/a-day-in-the-spotlight.ashx Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:40:58 GMT Part of the scientific method is to experiment. It starts with a question. The next step is to look around and see who else has asked a similar question. Then you construct an experiment to test your ideas about how to answer the question. This experiment either proves your ideas were right or that they were wrong. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/proof-that-confirms-faith.ashx Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:37:30 GMT As we develop more Innovation Platforms and delve into the specifics of the challenges that they contain, we get really caught up in the detail and the focus. Every now and again, it is necessary to take a step back and look at our portfolio of activities and reframe what we are doing. Our recent work with the Biotechnology and Biosciences Research Council, the Medical Research Council and the Office of Life Sciences has taken us on just such a journey through our growing “medical” portfolio. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/live-long-and-prosper.ashx Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:30:46 GMT I seem to have been spending a lot of time giving introductory talks about the work of the Technology Strategy Board recently, so it was a nice challenge to be asked to contribute to the RIBA Seminar on Settlement. The subject of this meeting was something we have been increasingly aware of – the impact of technology on the way we live – and we (the presenters) were asked to think about what would be different in 20 years. That got me thinking about predicting the future... http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/que-sera-sera-or-not.ashx Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:28:53 GMT This has been a week for checking that what we are doing will achieve our goals and deciding what to do if it doesn't. In December, our Governing Board asked us this question, and we have been assembling the evidence and ideas to answer it. The input isn't just internal and programme related. For example, on Monday I went to a book launch.  http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/are-we-holding-the-plans-the-right-way-up.ashx Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:27:12 GMT Monday kicked off well, with a visit with Iain to Dolby at Wootton Bassett. The visit came in two halves. The first was a tour of the factory. Here they make the "professional" equipment that goes into cinemas. Then came description and demonstrations of professional and consumer technologies being implemented. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/its-not-speed-its-acceleration.ashx Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:40:41 GMT Last week saw a lot of activity driven by the economic situation - either at company or Government level.  Monday was a series of meetings around the frenzied preparation for the launch of our Retrofit for the Future competition being run under the Low Impact Buildings Innovation Platform. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/searching-for-the-right-buttons-to-push.ashx Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:34:11 GMT My week opened with a meeting in London with members of the New Automotive Innovation and Growth Team (NAIGT) Technology Working Group to discuss our support for their move to low carbon vehicles. When we started the Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform, the world was a different place - sub-prime was a term not many people recognised - and we had a strong response from the UK automotive industry.  http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/cars-nanotechnology-science-broadband-and-security.ashx Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:24:40 GMT The first half of last week was largely taken up with moving into our new office. It was not a big move, just one wing over within North Star House, but it gave us the opportunity to design our own working space. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/meeting-the-priests-of-delphi.ashx Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:56:45 GMT Business is supposed to be quite simple. You have to sell something in which people see real value, but which costs you less than that value to supply. Since it normally takes time to develop that “something”, knowing what people will want in the future is a really useful ability.  I seem to have spent a lot of time this week with people who are thinking about why things are successful and how they can increase the chances of success. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/pushing-on-a-piece-of-string.ashx Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:42:27 GMT One of the highlights of this past week for me was on Thursday. Having decided to level the playing field for our organisation by holding a series of internal “masterclasses” on some of the new things we are doing, we had a presentation (which turned into a debate) on virtual worlds and serious games, and then broke into groups to learn about Second Life, Twitter, Ning spaces and blogs. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/to-boldly-go.ashx Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:18:43 GMT The Technology Strategy Board as a separate organisation has been in existence for 20 months. In that time we have had a lot of feedback. Some of it told us we were going in the right direction, but maybe not fast enough. Some of it suggested we were doing the wrong things, although if that was followed by a plea for personal funding it carried less weight!  http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/a-question-of-granularity.ashx Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:38:35 GMT Before joining the Technology Strategy Board, I worked for quite a while in industry, both in corporations and the business units that made them up. I have worked for managers who ran a “tight ship”, where the budgets were always met and things delivered on time. I have worked for leaders who could paint a picture of a future for the business that was exciting, (potentially) fun and so compelling that the large amount of extra work required to deliver it was considered a price worth paying. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/holding-out-for-the-right-kind-of-hero.ashx Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:09:12 GMT I spent last Thursday afternoon in Portcullis House where I was speaking as part of a National Science and Engineering Week meeting organised by the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee on the question - “Do we need more multi-skilled scientists and engineers to manage economic recovery and change?” http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/not-enough-of-the-wrong-kind-of-thing.ashx Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:22:07 GMT A few weeks ago, we were pleased to see that several of our recent competitions for R&D funding had been heavily oversubscribed. To us, this meant that we had held competitions in areas that were appropriate, where there was significant UK capability and where those with that capability thought they had innovative ideas. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/it-may-not-be-perfect-but-it-is-fair.ashx Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:09:14 GMT The first time I was really aware that I was looking for information was probably during my PhD. I had to find the context of my project and spent time in Chemical Abstracts looking for it. I used keywords that seemed appropriate and discovered the first truth of information searching – that the abstracts above and below the one you are looking for are always more interesting. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/i-still-havent-found-what-im-looking-for.ashx Sun, 02 Aug 2009 20:55:00 GMT “Disruption” is a goal we apparently all strive for in business. We talk about disruptive technologies, disruptive business models and generally sound as if our desire is to break the mould. For the most part, however, the day-to-day reality is a bit different.  http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/a-quantum-of-disruption.ashx Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:28:49 GMT The words “innovation” and “platform” are in everyday use. They have even been used together before, but we are beginning to realise that the “innovation platforms” which we have been working on for the last few years have acquired a brand cachet, and many aspire to “have” an innovation platform in their area. How did this come about? And how should we develop this concept? http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/are-we-there-yet.ashx Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:22:48 GMT The week before last, two ministers drove a pair of new Mini Es around a racetrack in Scotland and launched a strategy for low carbon vehicles in the UK. This was widely reported in the newspapers, in tones ranging from mildly approving, through neutral to pretty sceptical. The criticism tends to be about the scale of the ambition and the reality of its implementation. So why is it that people get so exercised by this issue? Or is it the politicisation of the issue they object to? http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/travelling-in-hope.ashx Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:53:02 GMT I have been living in the digital world for some time, but have only just realised it! I have three children, who think that it is all totally normal, and who have guided me into the wider aspects of this world. From the early monochrome games that tested their visio-spatial skills... http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/seeing-the-obvious.ashx Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:43:55 GMT The last few weeks seem to have developed rather a biological, or life sciences, theme. The other Wednesday I attended a meeting of the Foundation for Science and Technology which discussed whether it was possible to put a value on biodiversity. I won’t pretend to summarise the lectures or discussion - available soon through the Foundation’s website - but it did bring home to me the complexity of the biosphere that we are part, of and how little we understand the inter-relationships within. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/where-theres-life-.ashx Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:10:25 GMT At the Technology Strategy Board, our job is a mixture of being out and about listening and talking about innovation in business and doing something about it. So for me, this week has been reasonably typical. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/david-bott/getting-the-message-out-there.ashx Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:25:18 GMT