If you are an inventor or entrepreneur launching a new product in a commercial market, design could be the make or break factor. A strong design can help you stand out from your competitors, strengthen your brand and raise the value of your intellectual property. Think Dyson™ and Apple™.

Speakers, Sebastian Conran and Mandy Haberman, are two of Britain's foremost innovators, and achieved huge success through their collaboration on the Anywayup cup. You will have the opportunity to learn from their experience and put your questions to them both during the evening.

British Library Terrace Restaurant - FREE
18:00 – 21:00

Quite a few sources on the Web state that the PET bottle for pressurized drinks was invented by Nathaniel Wyeth of Du Pont. This is the familiar thin-walled, flexible bottle found in every shop.

It’s summer, and by the afternoon it’s often sweltering in London’s Underground.  In 1906 the tube was hailed as being “The Coolest Place in Hot Weather”. It had the ambient temperature of the surrounding subsoil, which was about 15 to 16 degrees Celsius. However the movement of rolling stock, working equipment and people using the lines emitted heat over time. This went into the walls and then into the subsoil, raising the ambient temperature and drying out the clay which reduced its ability to conduct heat away.

There’s been a story in the press recently about a man who used 49 cloned credit cards to steal £10,000 from a cash point. It was late at night, and it took him two hours to do it. Whenever anyone wanted to use the machine, he politely stood back. And then went on stealing money with another card.

A new kind of electronic trolley may soon be making its way to your supermarket. The idea is to use RFID technology to enable, to be honest, increased sales for the retailer. It may also help the consumer to get more out of the “shopping experience”.

Don't miss the latest in the British Library's series of 'Inspiring Entrepreneurs' events on Monday 17 March 2008. In celebration of International Women's Month, Five Mothers of Invention
Lorraine Heggessey, Jessica Huie, Sam Roddick, Debbie Reynolds and Sian Sutherland will inspire you at this event.

A new Welsh event that pulls together innovation from across the sectors is attracting the big guns and some interesting sporting insights to the National Cricket Centre, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff on March 11 to turn Innovation into Action.

Following an open competition, Joly Dixon, CMG has been appointed as Chair of the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property. Making the formal appointment, John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills said,

The BBC is currently searching for Britain’s best entrepreneurs and will be auditioning throughout the coming months.  They want to hear from anyone who thinks they’ve got what it takes to enter the Dragons’ Den.  Dragons’ Den continues to offer entrepreneurs from across the country the chance to make their business dreams come true.

I was on holiday recently when I noticed a street vendor selling those pesky weasels which move back and forth as they try to manoeuvre a ball. I picked up a box, saw that it was called the “Weazel Ball®” (not “weasel”), that it was made in China, and that it claimed to be patented.