INVENTOR Trevor Baylis OBE told East Lancashire businesses that billions of pounds had been lost because Britain's bright ideas were ignored.
Trevor told an audience of almost 200 that his idea for a clockwork radio was ignored or mocked by organisations he approached.
Eventually his invention became a multi-million pound business concern. But it was based in South Africa rather than Britain because of the lack of interest shown by his home country.
"Conventional people faced with a challenge give conventional responses," Trevor told the ELTEC Alpha event.
"It is often those people who are not limited by convention who are the most creative and can think laterally."
And Trevor urged schoolteachers in East Lancashire to play their part in encouraging inventive spirit in their pupils.
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