SPEAKER: CHARLES LEADBEATER

Charles Leadbeater is an ideas generator, independent writer and adviser to leading European companies.

He is reportedly Tony Blair's favourite corporate thinker and is publishing his next book in July 2002 entitled "Up The Down Escalator. Why The Global Pessimists Are Wrong".

His previous book Living on Thin Air: The New Economy was published in 1999. The book is published in Italian, Chinese, German and Korean as well as in the US. Charles writes regularly for the Industry Standard magazine as well as contributing to the New Statesman, the Financial Times and The Guardian.

He spent ten years working on the Financial Times where he was Labour Editor, Industrial Editor and Tokyo Bureau Chief before becoming the paper's Features Editor. He became Assistant Editor in charge of Features at The Independent where, with Helen Fielding, he devised Bridget Jones's Diary.

Charles is an adviser to the Downing St Policy Unit and the British government's Department of Trade and Industry on the Internet and the knowledge driven economy. He drafted the British government White Paper - Our Competitive Future: Building the Knowledge Driven Economy published in December 1998, the Science White Paper published in July 2000 and helped to draft the Communications White Paper published in December 2000 and the Competitiveness White Paper published in January 2001.

He drew up the initial plan for the Department of Culture's project Culture Online, to promote digital access to publicly funded museums, galleries and arts. Charles advises the European Commission, working as a special adviser on competitiveness and the New Economy. In the run up to the EU's Lisbon summit in Spring 2000, he wrote the draft report presented at the Lisbon summit: "The New Economy: The European Model."

He also advises Channel Four television in the UK and works with several Internet start-ups, including iMpower, which is offering new ways to connect government to citizens using the Internet; Digit, the design consultancy and Alltrue.com, the New York broadband company.

He has advised a wide range of leading companies including Atlas Venture, Ericsson, Accenture, British Telecom, The Inland Revenue, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the V&A Museum. Charles is a Senior Research Associate with the independent think-tank Demos, and has written reports on civic entrepreneurship, culture and knowledge entrepreneurs. He is a regular speaker at major corporate conferences, recent engagements include Ericsson, Swiss Re, BT, John Lewis, IBM and Merck.

Topics:
The forces driving modern competitiveness: innovation and the driven economy knowledge. What it means for companies, regions and nations.
The nature of modern entrepreneurship, knowledge entrepreneurship - entrepreneurship depends on teams and networks not just individuals
How large companies can foster an entrepreneurial culture
Leading and structuring knowledge driven companies to capitalise on the knowledge and ideas of employees and partners
Managing companies that have to be large and yet innovative. Can it be done?
Why executives say they love innovation, but secretly hate it because it must challenge the status quo
Innovation within large companies: how large companies can become as agile as small companies
Entrepreneurship, government and the E evolution: how government needs to innovate
Why we love and hate technology at the same time: nostalgia and technological progress