James Dyson

"You've got two minutes."
"You'll never sell a vacuum cleaner without a bag."
"This project is dead from the neck up."

A heap of nos and nevers as I pitched my newly designed vacuum to old-fashioned industry execs. I wish I could say my story was unusual. Many...

It's one of the year's most hotly anticipated competitions. The contenders look nervously across the wings as the host steps up to the podium. The envelope is fumbled. The noise in the room drops in anticipation. Who will take away the coveted prize... the Mississippi regional middle school Science Bowl?...

The general perception of engineers is a warped one. We are the car mechanics fixing the oil leak. Or, if we're lucky, a white coated scientist tucked away in a dusty laboratory. Never adventurers. Never explorers. And definitely not daredevils. It's not surprising then that too few young people stumble...

George Osborne and Michael Gove need to talk. While Osborne calls for a 'march of the makers', Gove considers dropping Design and Technology - the font of modern making - from the national curriculum. Inspirational design and technology lessons nurture problem solvers - people with the good ideas to be...

U.S. education is suffering from a crisis in confidence. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has estimated that 80 percent of public schools could be failing under the No Child Left Behind Act. States are calling for reform while coming to blows with teachers unions. In Chicago, politics and deficit worries are...

Come the January inaugurations, the US can expect political disputes, policy shifts and perhaps the odd bit of compromise. If there's one issue where common ground must be found, it's education. It's a divisive and decisive issue where Republicans and Democrats must grit their teeth and work together to reform...