Meccano days

One of Britain's leading inventors has warned that a 'Google generation' who rely on the internet for everything are losing creativity and practical skills because they spend too much time in front of screens. Trevor Baylis, who invented the wind-up radio, said he fears that the next generation of inventors is being lost, with young people often unable to make anything with their hands. But the 75-year-old inventor said that children have got to be taught hands-on, and not to become mobile phone or computer pendent, and could rediscover vital skills if schools used Meccano and other practical toys.

Say it with pencil

"This is how it was," says Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012). "Architecture for me has always begun with drawing. When I was very little my mother said I used to draw in the air with my fingers. I needed a pencil. Once I could hold one, I have drawn every day since. The buildings do appear on paper the way you say, but they are not the result of gratuitous brushstrokes. The pencil is guided by so many thoughts stored away in my mental library. But, when I have looked at the site for a building, considered its budget and thought of how it might be built, and what it might be, the drawings come very quickly. I pick up my pen. It flows. A building appears. There it is. There is nothing more to say."

Collaboration and crowdfunding

Collaboration rather than the lone genius is what propels innovation. And sitting tight on ideas in the early stages of the design process is outdated. Says the project team behind the idea for adding an E-Ink screen to the back of an iPhone 5 case: 'Even a few years ago, it seemed unheard of to throw ideas out to the world very early in the process. Now it’s very viable and takes advantage of the best in the community to quickly develop products that the people will love.' Utilising crowdfunding, the 4-inch customisable screen called The popSLATE will be launched next spring. http://www.indiegogo.com/popslate