All Blog Posts (249)

At the RSA I have the opportunity to meet and work with a diverse and motivated group of Fellows.  I’m always amazed how they manage to juggle the range of different ideas and enterprises that they are developing.  With 27 000 Fellows there are so many stories it can sometimes feel like you can’t see the wood from the trees but today I’d like to tell you a story of Fellows getting together, discussing an opportunity and providing a solution that helped the environment but more importantly a…

At the RSA I have the opportunity to meet and work with a diverse and motivated group of Fellows.  I’m always amazed how they manage to juggle the range of different ideas and enterprises that they are developing.  With 27 000 Fellows there are so many stories it can sometimes feel like you can’t see the wood from the trees but today I’d like to tell you a story of Fellows getting together, discussing an opportunity and providing a solution that helped the environment but more importantly a…

Supposedly innovation will be the saviour of us all - bringing much needed solutions to hard economic social and environmental problems. If we can just use our human creativity, ingenuity, agency in the right way, then everything will be OK, and the promise of Progress will be delivered. Right now though we appear to be piling ahead in some areas, and floundering in way too many others. So how can we be more effective overall?

There is much debate as to the…

About this time 449 years ago a bright little chap called William was born. Since then he has provided me and many of my friends, colleagues, acquaintances, enemies, partners, and pets with a constant stream of work, entertainment, and discussion. He has been a constant pain in the backside of English students of all…

Mention ‘summit’ and instinctively you conjure up the idea of heads of state flying across the globe to ‘sort out problems’.  So, when the Manufacturing Summit organised by the IET in London on April 18 was announced, I was determined to attend to learn more about the issues at stake and the state of this sector.

What most people forget is that when heads…

Andrew Hadley and his team has set up 2020 Education with support from two RSA Catalyst grants to recognise the powerful work of young people to make a difference in their future.  In this guest blog Andrew sets out the thinking behind the idea and calls on Fellows to get involved:

2020 Education is a movement in the making. In a nutshell it is about showcasing what schools and…

There is a huge amount of negative press surrounding young people these days. The term 'youth' conjures up images of hooded, foul mouthed, and socially reprehensible hooligans that stalk the streets in search of trouble. Whilst I accept there is an element of this type of 'youth' that take to the streets on occasion there is a side to young people that we in this country make nothing of. We seem to be obsessed with demonising the youth of today and tarring all with the same brush. Age…

Today we are disappointed again by a lack of vision demonstrated by all on BBC 'Start the Week' a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rl45w%3E">http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rl45w>; for the discussion is inhibited by those who wish for more of the same rather than the exciting possibility of greater, more creative, more visionary, more committed, more inclusive, better, wiser, more collaborative, enduring, sustainable humanity. Human brilliance is growing even though we…

I have to make a confession, which will probably alienate me from some of the most extremists green activists: I am a fan of Bjorn Lomborg.  Now, before you reach for your laptop, tablet or smartphone and start sending me nasty messages about it let me at least explain to you what I like about Mr Lomborg. 

The excellent article in today's…

I didn’t even know there was a book on the subject but I discovered it while I was doing a little bit of research, as I enjoy writing something original or at the very least if I need to use someone’s ideas, I want to make sure they are fully acknowledged.  In my native language I would refer to this habit as to a “professional deformation”, which makes…

On Monday of this week The Independent published a long article on the story behind graphene, the new material that could literally revolutionise the way we communicate and do things.  If you are keen on learning more about graphene the web is…

Rob Greenland was the first RSA Fellow in Yorkshire to receive RSA Catalyst funding for the Leeds Empties project. To celebrate the launch of the project the RSA Yorkshire team helped organise the launch event in Leeds at Ebor Court.

Rob Greenland and Gill Coupland from Social…

It has been a long accepted fact in schools that 'the arts' has always been the poor relation to sports. It is a problem that even seems to transcend the divide of state and private education. As a group, artistes and their followers are seen as elite, irrelevant, self-indulgent and even selfish. I can understand why to some extent. The Arts Council of England for example, have stumped up cash for some outrageous and extravagant projects in recent years and whatever the argument from us…

'New Royal Tunbridge Wells Group' in the group South East Region

Hello all - the BRE is looking for companies willing to help by participating in research about workplace toilets. Retail stores are the areas where there has been least response to date. If any of you are involved with / know of companies that would be willing to take part, please read the Building Research Establishment's briefing note below and respond directly to the project manager hadim@bre.co.uk. Thanks all!  Wendy

Briefing Note…

As chair of the RSA Digital Engagement Working group, I thought I'd share an initiative we are working on to generate more buzz digitally in the regions.

An RSA Regional Digital Champion (RDC) is a fellow who has knowledge and expertise of how digital technology can be used to promote the work of the RSA and the fellowship. They volunteer their time and knowledge to fellows and RSA staff in their region to help enable them to make the most of the opportunities digital…

The founding editor of WIRED Magazine, Kevin Kelly, once said; ‘the problem of the future will not be that we cannot connect – it will be that we cannot disconnect’. Super fast  computer technology and the network…

RSA fellows may enjoy my latest book The Music of Business - a book which crosses the artificial chasms between art, science and business, by looking at business excellence through ideas developed from my career in science and music.

This is my fifth book, acclaimed by Harvey Goldsmith.

You can preview the book at …

Back in September 2012, I kicked off a series of articles examining capitalism, in an attempt to understand the limitations inherent within the current economic framework, and to explore what might be needed to promote a genuinely sustainable economy, including the risks and opportunities for business, and how business leaders may contribute. This is an important topic - as it provides the context for what we can really achieve with our business models and how sustainable they will…

The other day, while rummaging in the inner recesses of one of my drawers, I came across my old crystal ball.  It hadn’t been used in a long while and was showing signs of neglect so I decided to give it another go. Rather than checking for lottery numbers I decided to see what social media changes we will experience in 2013; I am, after all, a bit of a geek.  The ball was a little…