4 lessons from some of Britain’s innovation beacons

Britain is an innovation nation. The word innovative is the common tie that binds together some of the UK’s greats, from James Dyson to Tim Berners-Lee, George Stephenson to George Bernard Shaw.

Dyson only perfected the bagless vacuum cleaner after tinkering with more than 5,000 prototypes: he taught us about true grit. Berners-Lee’s vision of a global hyperlinked information system led to the birth of the internet and Stephenson’s engineering brain saw Britain build the world’s first public railway. Bernard Shaw’s realisation that “all progress depends on the unreasonable man” taught us about the essential unreasonable levels of innovators.

Britain led the Industrial Revolution with scientific and technological discoveries that triggered dramatic improvements to living standards and enormous economic benefits. The UK was ranked fifth in the 2017 Global Innovation Index. Only the US has more Nobel Laureates.

But we’re facing a period of rapid technological change, and enormous economic and political upheaval. So which of Britain’s innovation beacons will spark the next wave of innovation? Let’s explore some of the firms stimulating economic growth, social progress and digital prosperity and their key innovation lessons.