Like most organisations, we’re trepidatiously planning in-person events for later in the year. Once again we’ll launch reports on the terraces of the House of Commons and Lords, traverse the UK to host roundtables and panel events – seeing many of you after over a year, and hopefully meeting many of you for the first time.
However, the event I most want to attend isn’t happening (yet).
So far it’s been best articulated by our head of innovation research Dr Anton Howes. It’s modelled on the Great Exhibition of 1851 and he’s written about it in our recent essay collection, which was reproduced as an article for CapX.
After opening on 1 May 1851, the Great Exhibition attracted six million visitors over five and a half months. According to one newspaper at the time, the crowd was “a restless sea of human beings, agitated by the strong impulses of curiosity.” Centred around the prefabricated majesty of Sir Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace, it was an incredible success. After a fire in 1936, only scattered ruins remain of the original Palace, but its legacy in spurring and inspiring innovation endures.
A century after the Great Exhibition, the government tried to replicate its success, but fell short. According Anton, the organisers of the 1951 Festival of Britain “did things entirely back-to-front”, and he suspects the organisers of next year’s Festival UK* 2022 are making the same mistakes.
So what was so special about the Great Exhibition?
First and foremost, it wasn’t just about celebrating greatness – it was about improving things. The organisers wanted to encourage invention, introduce consumers to the latest technology, and reduce trade barriers. Also, it was entirely self-funded. The government backed and supported it through a cross-party Royal Commission to oversee the team that did the day-to-day running of things, but a majority of the money was raised through a public subscription.
For those wondering whether a modern-day crowdfunding campaign would work, have a read of what Anton has in mind:
“Visitors would actually get to see drone deliveries in action, take rides in a driverless car, experience the latest in virtual reality technology, play with prototype augmented reality devices, see organ tissue and metals and electronics being 3D-printed, and industrial manufacturing robots in action. They would have a taste of lab-grown meat at the food stalls, meet cloned animals brought back from extinction, perform feats of extraordinary strength wearing the exoskeletons used in factories, fly in a jet-suit, and listen to panel interviews with people who have experienced the latest in medical advancement. Perhaps a commercial space launch using the latest technology might be timed to coincide with the event, to be livestreamed on a big screen for all visitors to see. Visitors would naturally meet the inventors and scientists and engineers who developed it all, too.”
Attracted by the pioneering inventions of the day, people across the country returned again and again to the Great Exhibition. With virtual reality, rockets and literally being able to fly we have the technologies for an even greater exhibition. If Anton gets his way, prepare, once more, to be agitated by the strong impulses of curiosity!
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