Wallace & Gromit front innovation drive

A new Government initiative to promote creativity and innovation in primary schools is being fronted by ‘Britain’s foremost inventors’, Wallace & Gromit.

The UK Intellectual Property Office – an operating name of the Patent Office – is this week launching the Cracking Ideas scheme, which has been masterminded by London design consultancy Bell. It is being supported by Aardman Animation’s Nick Park and wind-up radio inventor Trevor Baylis.

It includes a nationwide competition, a package of lesson plans and a dedicated website – www.crackingideas.com – teaching nine- and ten-year-olds everything from how to market their ideas to selling them for a profit.

Bell creative director Ian Allison is confident that this new cross-media approach will catch on. ‘It’s the way things are going,’ he says, adding that every aspect is tied to the national curriculum.

‘It’s all part of a wider drive to shift the UK from a service-based to an innovation-based economy, and starting children early. The way the scheme uses the Web, science and technology shows an integrated approach,’ says Allison.