Inspiration to beat the January Blues

I’ve decided – this is an inspiring time of year.

It’s so easy to feel everything is a little bit bleak in the grey weeks of January, but I’m delighted to say the first days of 2014 have brought me nothing but inspiration.

I’ve just been to a really exciting conference all about Big Data.  You may already be aware that UCMK is at the heart of a ground-breaking project to crunch huge quantities of information relating to transport, water and energy in Milton Keynes called MK:Smart (to learn more, go to http://www.mksmart.org/ ).  It’s an area which is in its infancy but the importance of it is unmistakable.  We heard from big companies like Intel and Experian about their plans and it’s fair to say the future of big data will create lots of imaginative collaborations between business and academia.  We both need each other to make it work but the implications are massive for how the world is planned and run in the future.  People have always collected large amounts of data but the interconnectedness of everyone now means we can actually start using it in ways which will be both commercially profitable and socially beneficial.

I’ve been back to school; Shenley Brook End school to be precise.  The school hosted the Great Education Debate all about the future of teaching and learning and it was extremely thought-provoking.  Should we follow the example of countries like South Korea or Singapore in making everything about passing exams?  Is education about happiness and fulfilment, the joy of learning – and if so, how do we most effectively measure these things?  How do we make the teaching profession more desirable and less of a punch bag to encourage our best minds into it?  Are disciplines like Drama and Sociology undervalued and under threat?  Lots of food for thought.

A further source of inspiration for our future is the Entrepreneurialism Group of which I’m also a member.  It’s made up of people from business, academia and education who work with local children, some as young as ten or eleven, who show real signs of having a head for business, having powerful, potentially commercial ideas and who have the drive to possibly even build something which could make money.  It’s not just about saying, “Aren’t you great,” and then leaving them to their own devices.  The intention is to give them real structures and processes they can use to make their business dream reality.  Some of these children have really interesting ideas and if we as a group can help them develop, market and exploit them, the possibilities really are endless.  The project involves young people from Hazeley Academy and Two Mile Ash Primary School and has already produced a new, educational treasure hunting app for the Android platform.  Milton Keynes is bursting with small businesses run by one or two people, and it’s never too early to open children’s eyes to the possibility that they can be their own boss.

The city and the university are bursting with ideas.  Dismiss the winter blues and be inspired!

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