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GOOGLE’S CHAIRMAN ARGUES CVN’s CASE

MARK THIS DATE - 26 AUGUST 2011 !

This was the day when Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google, delivered the MacTaggart Lecture in Edinburgh as part of the Media Guardian TV Festival.

In it, he issued a devastating critique of UK educational policy and, through it, delivered a ringing, implicit endorsement of our own ( Creative Value Network’s ) Idea and Mission Statement first published in 2000, which reads : -

“… to stimulate and help build more inclusive and interactive networks of individuals and groups, from across the conventional boundaries of ‘arts’, ‘science’, ‘engineering’ and ‘education’, who are impatient for a more cross-disciplinary approach to creativity and the generation of ideas …”

Wake-Up Call?

As you all know, it is now over 10 years since we launched this mission, to great applause from a wide Consultation Network ( see ‘ CVN Archive’ below ) across the arts, science, engineering and educational communities; though, as with so many innovatory ideas in the UK, there proved to be little tangible, mainstream support forthcoming from the ‘policy-makers’ in Government or our fragmented and bureaucratic professional bodies and institutions.

That is why the Google Chairman’s intervention is particularly important – for its clear reaffirmation of the very ideas and imperatives that we have been voicing since the year 2000, together with our robust strategies for necessary action; all of which were enthusiastically endorsed by so many key figures in the arts, science, engineering and educational communitities ( more on that below).

Here, first, are some of Eric Schmidt’s pointed comments:

“ Over the past century, the UK has stopped nurturing its polymaths. You need to bring art and science back together. Britain should look to the ‘glory days’ of the Victorian era for reminders of how the two ( arts/science) disciplines can work together …”

“ It was a time when people wrote poetry and built bridges”, he said. “ Lewis Carroll didn’t just write one of the classic fairytales of all time. He was also a mathematics tutor at Oxford. James Clerk Maxwell was described by Einstein as among the best physicists since Newton – but was also a published poet”…..

“ If the UK’s creative businesses want to thrive in the digital future, you need people who understand all facets of it, integrated from the very beginning. Take the lead from the Victorians and ignore Lord Sugar ( hear, hear!); bring engineers into your company at all levels, including the top”.

You will find many uncanny resemblances, in his words, to the long continuity of posts and arguments on this website. And the Google Chairman’s intervention comes as a powerful confirmation of the detailed Arts/Science/Engineering interaction proposals, fully documented and publicly proposed by CVN over ten years ago !  See below.

He also provokes a chilling reminder of how educational policy change in the UK, even when widely endorsed, can be shipwrecked on its sclerotic decision processes and political in-fighting among our confusion of ‘professional bodies’, Government agencies and opaque funding mechanisms. Regrettably, this has been very much CVN’s experience  and that of other innovators in this field.
though Schmidt’s words could, hopefully, be the late, but needed, wake up call.

Brief Synopsis of a Very Cautionary Tale.

The acknowledged value and pragmatic realism of CVN’s strategic proposals, under intense scrutiny from the start by highly experienced activists across the arts/science spectrum, quickly engaged an unprecedented level of interest and promised collaboration. Here are some of the early highlights, to give a sense of the energies and initiatives involved.

1. Progressively, from 2000, an extensive network of activists and supporters from theatre, media, performing and visual arts was initiated by CVN co-director Alec Reid, long-term BBC producer and writer/director for theatre, radio, TV and recording technologies. Simultaneously, their science and engineering technology peer groups were being brought together through a variety of individual, professional, corporate, research and university networks, co-ordinated by CEO, Ralph Windle.

2. Three initial cross-disciplinary ‘ginger groups’ were designated, related to:-

- Engineering and the Creative Arts
The ‘Janus Project’ ( endorsed by the Engineering and Technology Board )


- Media, Arts and Digital Technologies


- Creative Industries and the Bio-Sciences

3. As a test-bed for cross-disciplinary programme trials, a ‘Collaboration Agreement’
was negotiated and signed with the Vice Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University
granting research and seminar facilities on the Wheatley Campus; and a top-level
Steering Group established under CVN’s chairmanship comprising Professorial Heads of
Faculties for Engineering, Biological Sciences, English Literature, History and Business.

4. Distinguished engineer and scientist Dr Robert Hawley CBE quickly embraced the
concept and became CVN’s Chairman. His Mountbatten lecture (2002) to the Royal
Institution in London; and (2004) to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, helped widen the
cross-disciplinary dialogue and put CVN at the centre of national pressures for
change.

5. Sir Peter Williams, Fellow of the Royal Society ( ex-Chairman of Oxford Instruments)
whose chairmanship of the newly-formed Engineering and Technology Board (2001)
over-lapped with his Presidency of the British Association for the Advancement of
Science (2002/3), was involved in, and endorsed, plans for CVN’s major ‘Janus Project’
( Engineering and the Creative Arts).

6. In January 2002, Lord David Puttnam, former film producer and then Government
Adviser and first Chairman of the National Endowment for Science and the Arts
(NESTA) became aware of the CVN initiative and a firm supporter. He suggested
its reference to NESTA for potential funding.

He commented ( September 2003 to Dr Hawley ) “ CVN has succeeded in convincing us
that there is, indeed, a massive challenge and equally massive opportunity in this
field”.

7. The Distinguished Professor ( Anna Craft ) commissioned by NESTA to conduct a detailed independent assessment of the CVN Project,  wrote:“ The enormous energy, thought and direction which has already gone into theproject was clear, together with the constituency of supportive and interested parties, at all sorts of levels of operation and many fields of activity”. Her ’strong recommendation of support’ was endorsed by Nesta …

“ The Nesta Executive was unanimous in its recommendation to support CVN “, its CEO reported in November 2003.

(8.  So it would no doubt puzzle Eric Schmidt, and sadly confirm his thesis, that the above accumulating history of positive innovation and high level endorsement should lead to a late- 2003 decision not to help fund the CVN Project nor help it recoup the  investments it had self-financed in response to near-unanimous encouragement from the leaders of somany prestigious institutions.

Basically, the argument seemed to be that, although all were equally committed, it was always
‘the other’ who must move first!  A sclerotic impasse ensued, primarily between NESTA
and our leading Engineering Institutions which ( as if to prove Mr Schmidt’s observations)
remains  unresolved  a decade later. It was a classic example of EM Cornford’s ‘ Principle of UnripeTime’ , already blocking educational innovation in early 20th century Cambridge!

9. To his great credit, Lord Puttnam ( no longer with NESTA ) shared the general
embarrassment and fought hard to try to overcome the massive inertia of the
UK’s engineering bodies.

“ We were astounded that the failure to address the need for greater investment in
creativity and innovation did not appear to be a matter of urgent concern to the
engineering industry …” ( to the then Chairman of the E.T.B. September 2003 ).

Making Things Happen

In the absence of official support, CVN has built its significance on the Arts/Science stage mainly through its self-financed website networks and activities  .It remains the leading independent commentator in the field, monitoring and encouraging a wide diversity of arts/science initiatives. We remain the only point at which a fully national, and increasingly international, strategic overview of this vital and developing cross-disciplinary field is consistently attempted. We are in touch with many creative and innovative thinkers and doers in these fields.

CVN and the Chairman of Google are perhaps not the most natural of allies, but hopefully his  strictures could jog some memories and stimulate action among our decision makers!

Ralph Windle
CEO and Founder
Creative Value Network