It may have been that illustrious Greek, Archimedes - mathematician, physicist, engineer - who had the original ‘Eureka moment’ (leading many others to try a bubble bath as a source of inspiration for ground-breaking brainwaves), but Eureka moments are happening all over modern-day Britain, it appears.
This should come as no surprise – our green and pleasant land has been the birthplace for many of the world’s best ideas: steam trains and the corkscrew being my personal favourites, but also the airbag, cats’ eyes…erm, the tin can…and the lawn mower. And where, pray tell, would we be without them? (In a world without baked beans and with overgrown lawns, is the answer.) Yes, according to business advisers Inventya, 13m of us have had a business idea at some stage.
The mind boggles. Thirteen million ideas! Just imagine what society we could be living in! A glance at Dragons’ Den gives us a tantalising, and somewhat, terrifying glimpse of a Britain in which business ideas led, seamlessly to businesses.
But unfortunately, the vast majority of these ideas never get beyond the confines of their creators’ imagination. And even more unfortunately, some of those ideas are sure to be really very good. Inventya suggests this is because many of us lack the belief to, in the words of Nike (not the Greek goddess but the marketing department of the sports brand), ‘Just Do It’.
British reserve and an ignorance in how to get started holds people back. We are as a society, however, becoming more entrepreneurial. Let’s hope that more people have the guts and determination needed to see their brainwave turn into a business, and make our society much more interesting as a result.
Did your Eureaka moment take place in the bath? Tell us about it, below.
