Wanted: 200 boffins seek backers

By Jon Cronin
BBC News, at the British Invention Show

How many inventors do you know?

Trevor Baylis says Britain needs to take inventors more seriously

The chances are the answer is more than you think, although you - and they - probably don't realise it.

"There's an invention inside all of us," says Trevor Baylis, the man who developed the wind-up radio, an invention that has changed the lives of millions of people in some of the world's poorest countries.

Over the coming three days, more than 200 inventors, including Mr Baylis, are gathering in London for this year's British Invention Show.

Beneath the towering roof of Alexandra Palace, the Victorian hub from where the BBC made its first television transmission, inventors from across the world are showing off their latest ideas, gadgets and gizmos.

Inventions range from a solar-powered hospital that can be squeezed into the back of truck to a wafer-thin skin patch that promises to boost the sex drive of men.

The British don't back entrepreneurs like the Americans do Liz Paul, inventor

Some inventors will be hoping to win the coveted Inventor of the Year award.

Others will be looking simply to exchange ideas.

But all want to be taken seriously - and perhaps, if they haven't already done so, find a backer with deep pockets.

Rule of thumb

And that's the problem, says Mr Baylis, especially when it comes to inventors in Britain.

Sniffing this patch will improve a man's sex drive, the inventor says

"When you think of inventors, you think of some fruitcake, someone wacky," he says. "It's outrageous, and it's short-sighted. This nation, alas, doesn't realise how much it relies on inventors."

Mr Baylis, who became a household name in the 1990s with his wind-up Freeplay radio, is at the show to promote his new company, which - for a small price - will advise inventors on the many pitfalls they are likely to face from the drawing board to the shop shelf.

Before you do anything, though, you need a good idea, says veteran Rochester-based inventor Ray Lawes.

INVENTOR'S PARADISE Take a glimpse at some of the inventions on show. In pictures

"The first rule of thumb for inventors is to come up with something that people actually want," says Mr Lawes, who used to own a firm that made electric golf caddies.

"It's easy to come up with an idea, but selling the idea is a bummer."

Mr Lawes is at the show with his Ezeegen machine, a pedal-powered portable power generator which promises free power - for as long as you can pedal - wherever you need it.

"People think we're nuts, but I'm a little bit different from the other guys," he says. "I can look at something and say if it's going to work or not, because I was in business before."

Sex sells

According to the Patent Office, more than 17,488 patents for inventions and ideas were filed in the UK in 2005. Some 3,751 were granted.

Patents for designs in civil engineering and building construction were among the lion's share of those granted.

Inventors at the show are hoping to win backers for their designs

But despite the UK's proud heritage of innovation - the jet engine, hovercraft, home computer and bagless vacuum cleaner all hail from these shores - critics say Britain is falling behind its competitors in the race to develop the ideas of the future.

"The British don't back entrepreneurs like the Americans do," says inventor Liz Paul, whose Hampshire-based company Medaro Medical plans to launch a skin patch claimed to boost men's libido.

Her SFM libido patches, which a man wears on his wrist and sniffs in order to stimulate the part of the brain that controls sexual desire, were developed after research in the US suggested that almost one in five men had a low sex drive.

"The ideas come easily, getting them to market is easy, but getting someone to back you is the difficult thing. We've put a lot of our own money in this," says Ms Paul, whose first invention was an appetite suppressant.

'Hospital in a box'

Elsewhere on show is last year's Invention of the Year winner, the CompactOR micro medical centre.

Inventor Alexander Bushell, a former hospital technician from Gillingham, came up with the idea while travelling in remote parts of Kenya, where "for want of a defibrillator we could have saved lives".

The mini-hospital unit, which is equipped to handle almost any standard operation apart from open heart surgery, is designed to be packed into the back of a Land Rover for ease of transport.

Mr Bushell's "hospital in a box" has the backing of a number of big companies, and is due to be launched onto the market in November.

For the love

Inventor Tim Jones hopes his lemon slicer will be a hit in pubs

But while we all may have a groundbreaking idea lying dormant in the back of our minds, what sets inventors apart is their desire to do something about it, says Bill Currie, a locksmith from south London.

"The difference between an inventor and the general public is that we all have ideas, but the general public don't take it any further," he says.

Mr Currie's invention - the Vegetable Groover - may not save lives or even promise to improve your sex life.

But his specially developed knife will, he says, revolutionize the way people peel and eat potatoes.

"I don't do it for the money, I just love inventing," he says. "I think about it every day."