Inventors of future must be nurtured

Oct 22 2009 by Stewart Watkins, The Journal

OF all the gadgets that fill our lives today it’s unlikely you’ve heard of Dulcimer – yet the majority of us own one and use it on a regular if not daily basis.

Prior to October 2001, a project known only as Dulcimer to its engineers was being prepared for launch to the general public. Renamed and rebranded the iPod, it has gone on in its short history to become one of the most recognised gadgets on the planet.

At the time of its release, the concept of carrying music around wasn’t new; there had been portable CD players and cassette players for years. But these devices required the user to carry round the actual tape or CD that the music was to be played from.

The iPod revolutionised the industry by relying solely on digital music files that could be downloaded by the user from digital music store iTunes, launched earlier in 2001.

Fast-forward to 2009 and the vast majority of our content is now in digital form – documents, videos, photographs – and all can be shared, viewed and enjoyed without being in physical form. On the whole we take this for granted, but the iPod largely paved the way for this digital revolution and in the space of only eight years our habits have been dramatically changed.

This rapid shift demonstrates the speed with which technological advancements can impact on our lives. It leads me to wonder what the next eight years might have in store. Inventions and breakthroughs being made right now could change the way we live and work once again.

And it is essential we encourage and nurture these attitudes. Through the successful application of science to existing problems in society, we have the potential to find innovative solutions that will help make life safer, easier, healthier or simply better for future generations.

A number of the companies based at the North East Technology Park (NETPark) developed from brilliant ideas formed in the world-class research laboratories of our region’s universities. They have gone on to successfully commercialise these ideas for wider markets and diversify the uses to which the technology can be put.

And it is important that we continue to move forward and ensure the support and opportunities are there for genuinely innovative ideas to flourish. Who knows, in a few years time you could be reading this column from Apple’s rumoured next device, a 10in portable screen that also tells you the time and what the weather will be like this afternoon. I couldn’t possibly comment.

Stewart Watkins is managing director of the County Durham Development Company