10 original thinkers, 10 big ideas to shape the UK's recovery

Ideas are the building blocks of innovation. But they are also the tools with which we dismantle unfashionable models. And there is rarely a more fitting time to refresh old ways than after a recession, when good ideas can be an antidote to flagging fortunes. Ideas need champions. Our 10 original thinkers have varying backgrounds and fields of interest, but they are all British, and they are all connected by a single ambition: to redesign an established concept so that it fits the demands of the future, whether for the good of business, or society.

From academics, such as Dr Rachel Armstrong, who believes architecture should mimic the natural environment it seeks to replace, to entrepreneurs such as Sahar Hashemi, who trusts in the capability of corporations to nurture future entrepreneurs, these are the original thinkers whose ideas will help shape Britain's recovery.

Philip Graves

Who? A former market research manager, author Graves runs Shift, a consumer behaviour consultancy

Big idea Market research wastes money. Consumers rarely know what they want until they see it (Baileys liqueur and the Chrysler minivan being just two successful products panned by focus groups), while buying decisions are invariably made subconsciously, leaving us with little concept of why we like or dislike certain products.

When pressed, we invent reasons that are consistent with our behaviour. Furthermore, the very act of asking a question often has the effect of inadvertently telling us what to think.

But while most market research is of little value, it's possible to gain insight through the study of consumer behaviour. What matters is not what consumers say, but what they do, and why they do it.

In his own words
"When market research wanders into the realm of the future it is inherently reckless."

Sir Tim Berners-Lee

Who? Some out-of-hours tinkering at the European particle physics laboratory in Geneva led Berners-Lee to create the world's first Web page and browser

Big idea Having invented the Web, Berners-Lee concerns himself with helping his discovery meet its full potential. Alongside a desire to see a more "semantic" Web, which could interpret the meaning of data without human intervention, Berners-Lee wants a more open internet. Companies such as Apple and Facebook, he says, stifle innovation and competition by creating "walled gardens" of data, disconnected from the rest of the Web.

Berners-Lee believes increased availability of data is a basic human right. His work with the UK government to release data to the public is a boon for democracy and business.

In his own words
"You could say we want the Web to reflect a vision of the world where everything is done democratically. To do that, we need computers to talk with each other in such a way as to promote that ideal."

John Kay

Who? Author, economist, and founding director of the Said Business School

Big idea Achieving our goals through direct means is inherently difficult. We live in a world of complexity, explained by imperfect information. Uncertainty is rife and Kay's solution is to accept that many of our ultimate objectives can only be reached by striving for something else. He calls this obliquity: the principle that complex goals are best achieved indirectly.

The most successful entrepreneurs, for example, are rarely in business for the money, while the free market always outperforms planned economies.

It's unfortunate, says Kay, that those leaders who propose direct answers to complex problems are more likely to be celebrated than the oblique thinkers who are more likely to get results.

In his own words
"The most profitable companies are not those most dedicated to profit."

Dr Rachel Armstrong

Who? TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) fellow Armstrong teaches at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London

Big idea Armstrong has a vision for the future of architecture. Instead of contributing to the problem of climate change, buildings should be part of the solution. They should be living things capable of trapping carbon dioxide and helping prevent global warming.

The key to Armstrong's research work is a chemical system known as the protocell, which exhibits some of the complex behaviour of living systems, such as movement and sensitivity. Spraying a building with protocells allows it to trap and store CO2 and also to help buildings regenerate and repair themselves. This application could be used to stop Venice from sinking, says Armstrong.

In her own words
"The only way to build genuinely sustainable homes and cities is by connecting them to nature, not insulating them from it."

Conrad Wolfram

Who? Co-founded Wolfram Research alongside his older brother

Big idea Thanks to the power of computing, maths has been liberated from the chore of calculation. So why are we still teaching schoolchildren to calculate by hand?

Calculation is the machinery of maths, says Wolfram. It's a means to an end, not an end in itself. Calculation has its uses, in learning mental arithmetic, for example. But by teaching students to work out complex problems, such as calculus, we are wasting an opportunity to infuse maths with meaning, and provide the context that children can use to apply mathematical theory to the real world.

Far from being an easy option, computers allow students to gain intuition and experience harder problems, says Wolfram. Computers can make maths simultaneously more practical and conceptual.

In his own words
"In one day, across the world, we spend 106 lifetimes teaching people how to calculate by hand."

Charles Leadbeater

Who? A journalist turned innovation consultant, Leadbeater is co-founder of Participle, a public service innovation agency

Big idea We are what we share. While the assertion that the Web's most saleable asset is its power to connect is hardly new, Leadbeater goes further than other crowdsourcing advocates, such as Clay Shirky, by identifying the opportunity for mass innovation.

We-Think, the book Leadbeater wrote to publicise his research, was itself a collaboration and illustrated Leadbeater's central argument: that sharing is the source of creativity, innovation and wellbeing.

Sharing, he says, is the Web's gift to society. It creates a new, democratic age in which what we choose to give away might matter more than what we own. The age of innovation as a linear, rigid process, pitting inventor and consumer at opposite poles, may be over.

In his own words
"In the economy of things you are what you own. In the economy of ideas you are what you share."

Sahar Hashemi

Who? Co-founder of Coffee Republic and founder of Skinny Candy

Big idea Large firms aren't fun places for creative people. Most corporations actively inhibit innovation, stifling creativity with a combination of process, silos and the quest for efficiency.

But it's possible for employees to force change-as corporate entrepreneurs. Hashemi says entrepreneurially minded talent shouldn't have to leave large corporations in order to achieve fulfilment.

Entrepreneurial behaviour, including ideas like bootstrapping, prototyping and celebrating failure, can help turn stuffy corporations into creative environments. They can also transform automatons into valued, engaged employees.

The comfort provided by a regular salary, company resources and colleagues to bounce ideas off is a platform for inspirational work, not a creative inhibitor.

In her own words
"Is it any coincidence that top management is often on the top floor? That's just about as far away from the customers as you can get."

Jonathan Ive

Who? Apple's senior vice-president of industrial design; Steve Jobs's heir apparent

Big idea Famously publicity-shy, Ive is a reluctant guru. But his design principles are followed religiously by the world's pre-eminent electronics company and imitated shamelessly by the competition.

Apple's products, from its translucent personal computers to its minimalist phones, are accessible, lots of fun, but intensely functional, stripped of all complexity.

Ive's commitment to perfection can stretch to redesigning the manufacturing process to ensure consistency of vision, rather than simply designing products to fit factory capability. The essence of an Apple product is its continuous journey back to the start until every unnecessary part has been removed.

Although beauty is often the result, Ive's designs tend to carry a different objective: meticulous simplicity.

In his own words
"It's not an appearance game we're playing. It is very utilitarian. It's the use of material in a very minimalist way."

Sir Ken Robinson

Who? Former professor of arts education at the University of Warwick, Robinson is an expert on creativity and education

Big idea Our education system is stifling creativity. All children start their school careers with vivid imaginations and a willingness to take risks, but a rigid, prescriptive education system, with strict timetables split into 40-minute periods and teachers obsessed with exam results, provide little opportunity for youngsters to discover their own ability.

A focus on individual subjects leaves children with a superficial knowledge of how the different themes intersect and mix.

Instead, learning should be organised into disciplines, allowing a much more fluid, dynamic curriculum. The UK education system produces safe, unimaginative workers rather than risk-taking, creative thinkers.

In his own words
"Learning happens in the minds and souls, not in the databases of multiple-choice tests."

Nic Marks

Who? A former psychotherapist, Marks is founder of the Centre for Well-being at the New Economics Foundation

Big idea What is productivity for? It's a question Nic Marks has concerned himself with ever since he devised the Happy Planet Index, which measures sustainable wellbeing.

The HPI connects environmental impact with wellbeing to measure the environmental efficiency with which different countries provide happy lives for their citizens.

The results are illuminating. The happiest nation on earth is Costa Rica, which uses only a quarter of the resources of the average western nation. Many of the wealthiest countries, on the other hand, consume the majority of global resources, yet house the highest number of unhappy people. So what is the point of economic growth?

In his own words
"How crazy is it that GDP, our dominant measure of progress, is measuring everything except that which makes life worthwhile?"