Conception to Completion     							Allen
When people ask "What's going to be the 'Big Idea' in the new millennium," they need look no further than Irvine, Ayrshire, where The Big Idea is about to burst on the scene after five years quiet gestation.

The Big Idea, a £14m development designed to celebrate 1000 years of invention as well as the genius of Alfred Nobel and a century of his Nobel prizes, is located on the Ardeer peninsula between Irvine and the three towns of Ardrossan, Saltcoats, and Stevenston. With its  state-of-the-art interactive exhibition technology, it was chosen as one of the UK's  permanent Millennium Commission projects, and the public are about to get their first taste of an exciting and unique experience
      
The world's first 'Inventor Centre' promises to be the first devoted to invention and discovery, but not as a museum - more an inventor's workshop, a launchpad of ideas - a living lab to challenge and stimulate young and old. It will be a multi-media interactive experience, an 'artefact-free' celebration of technology, which will link past, present and future in a unique 'hands-on' experience for every visitor, which challenges them to be 'the inventors of the future'. Through its unique use of an electronic iButton, The Big Idea is the world's first 'smart' exhibition, where everything on show is controlled by the visitor.

The centre builds on a legacy of invention emanating from the Ardeer peninsula, where Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor, set up his main dynamite manufacturing factory in the 1870s, establishing a business which would later develop in the world multinational ICI.

When The Big Idea is officially opened by The Earl of Dalkeith on April 14, the Centre's Director Cairns Campbell can be justifiably proud at the culmination of five years of hard work to get the project off the ground. From his work as Director of  ASSET (Ardrossan , Saltcoats and Stevenston Enterprise Trust)  in the early 1990s, trying to reverse the economic fortunes of the area as ICI cut back its presence in the area, Cairns saw the need for a major project which would combine economic development with tourist potential and a revival of local pride.

Under the auspices of the Nobel Foundation, an Exhibition Trust was set up, and Cairns helped to successfully put together the  major funding package including - £5.6 million from the Millennium Commission, £5.3m from Europe through the Strathclyde European Partnership, £500,000 from Enterprise Ayrshire  and £2.9m from private bodies - notably £100,000 from the Bank of Scotland through the Scottish Science Trust.

The scheme was officially launched on November 10, 1996, the centenary of the death of Nobel, with the active collaboration and encouragement of the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm.

Building work started in 1998, with designers BDP and builders AMEC producing a unique environmentally sympathetic 'sand dune bunker', commended by the Royal Fine Art Commission for its preservation of an area of natural beauty. Cairns is pleased that the construction of the 'Bridge of Scottish Invention' that links the Centre with Irvine Harbour has made it a pedestrian-only zone, with car parks and rail links on the harbour side of the location.

Over the past year, the major task has been the fitting out of the major attractions in the Centre - the 80 interactive exhibits; the History of Explosions theatrical pink knuckle ride; an area devoted to Nobel and 20 Nobel laureates with its 'magic library' of  'talking books' chosen and designed by students from Glasgow School of Art; a 'surprise lift' where Mr. Otis appears to explain its workings; a database from which people can learn the history of Ardeer and ICI and search for their roots in a genealogical data base; the kinetic sculpture built by Eduard Bersudsky; and much much more.

Especially innovative is the Bridge of Scottish Invention, the stunning 80 metre long retractable steel bridge over the harbour, where visitors on their way to the Centre will see the highlights of Scottish invention depicted in laser-cut stainless steel. In the final panel, the visitor sees his or her own face reflected above the inscription 'The Inventor of the Future'.

When The Big Idea opens to the public on April 15th, it will be the end of one chapter for Cairns Campbell and the start of another: "People frequently ask me what the purpose of The Big Idea is. It will serve for me if, in 20 or 30 years time, someone famous is being interviewed on TV and is asked  'Where did it all start?' and they say, 'My granny took me to The Big Idea'. That's what it's all about."


One of the biggest ventures of the future will be the William Grant and Sons Young European Prize for Invention and Discovery, which will be awarded at The Big Idea every two years starting in 2001. This major prize of £30,000 will be awarded to the young European who, in the judges' opinion,  "Has done the most to advance mankind through invention or discovery in the preceding two years."    William Grant has donated over  £300,000 as a capital sum to endow this prize in perpetuity.  Peter Gordon, the great-great grandson of the original William Grant said:  "We welcome the opportunity to use some of the fruits of our success - which have been based on continual invention - to shape discoveries of the future."  The prize  - which was launched in December 1998 by the Rt. Hon. Brian Wilson, MP, Minister of State at the Scottish Office - is open to individuals or groups from throughout land-mass Europe under the age of 35.
An eminent panel of judges, headed by Sir James Black, the Nobel Laureate, will deliberate on a shortlist
nominated by the University of Paisley, who are publicising and organising this prestigious prize.  Further details about the prize can be obtained on the website: www.bigidea.org.uk