BBC Innovation Labs 2008
Oct 29, 2007 · 3 minute readFab. It’s that time of year again. Time to start thinking “wouldn’t it be cool if” when it comes to the BBC (even if it’s not your day job).
I had the fortune of going along to this years BBC Innovation labs back in March and they’re back on the road again next year, with applications open from the 1st of December.
The basic concept is simple. Through a simple but competitive process of ideas submission the BBC find a handful of companies to dump in nice settings in the middle of nowhere for a week to work on their ideas. They are running four labs this year; in Wales and West Midlands, North East England, North West England and Scotland. If you live in any of these areas I’d strongly recommend finding out more at one of the local events.
Been couped up in a stately home or nice hotel with other odd nice people is great fun. It’s all pretty intense and last years event really got me thinking. It’s also a pretty good business opportunity. You own your ideas whether you get on the labs or not, you get paid for your time attending them and you get to pitch your ideas to the commisioners at the end of it.
For an idea of what goes on, you spend alot of time doing thinks like this:
And if you get really into it you might end up strutting around like this:
It’s not all fun and games though. You might have to spend your time watching BBC employees play snooker on work time or playing the odd game of werewolf:
The briefs are already up that will form the core of the submission process in order to get on one of the labs. I’d recommend having a good read, picking a few you think are interesting and tie in with whatever your interests are at the moment and go from their.
With all that in mind I’m looking for people who fancy partnering up to brainstorm ideas, put together a few submissions and see if we get anywhere. I’m now working full time on freelance and consultancy gigs but the nature of the labs was that you need a team of at least two people. And anyway, ideas flow more freely with a few smart people sat around. So, if anyone fancies sitting around talking through a few of the briefs (and who knows, maybe drinking a glass of wine?) at some point over the next few months before the deadline let me know.