Sharing Innovation (www.sharinginnovation.org.uk), created through a partnership between the Design Council and Hewlett-Packard, is a web-based project designed to help UK companies learn lessons from each other about the best way to produce innovative products.

Speaking at Hewlett-Packard’s Bristol research laboratories, Design Council Chief Executive Andrew Summers, said: ‘British companies must innovate if they are to survive in the new millennium. Producing good products will no longer be enough. It must be clever, original, well-designed and creatively marketed. Sharing Innovation is about helping British companies to do just that, by learning from the experiences of fellow innovators.’

Together with the Department for Trade and Industry, the Design Council and Hewlett-Packard are surveying companies who have produced ‘Millennium Products,’ recognised for their pioneering status and high levels of innovation.

The companies behind Millennium Products have been asked questions about how they came up with the idea for their innovation, how it was funded, how it was put into production, how it was taken to market and how it is performing in the marketplace.

The initiative is also conducting ongoing surveys of Millennium Product companies to identify common trends among innovators.

Sharing Innovation is designed to be a lasting legacy from the Millennium Products initiative run by the Design Council and launched by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1997.

It aims to provide case histories of Millennium Product companies to businesses and educational institutions via the web to help companies learn how to create the best possible conditions for successful innovation.

One story which emerged at today’s launch was the extraordinary tale of how BAe came up with the world’s first solid-state silicon gyroscope. This has enormous potential applications, for example in anti-skid braking systems.

Early analysis of the Sharing Innovation database has shown that 21% of innovations arise from a personal brainwave, with around 7% from group brainstorms. 15% found that finance was the biggest problem they encountered when trying to create their new product.

Some 19% of Millennium Product companies did not use market research, 23% said that sales were below expectations and 24% claimed they were above expectations. 75% concluded that the experience of bringing an innovative product to market was an incentive to pursue innovation more often and with more commitment.

Commenting on Sharing Innovation, Education and Employment Secretary, David Blunkett, said: ‘The challenge presented by the 21^st Century means we must change our attitudes to learning.

‘I hope the Sharing Innovation programme will inspire the managers and leaders of tomorrow to rise to the challenge of the Learning Age and recognise the importance of innovation and creative thinking for our future prosperity.