Accept no substitutes

Creative Future?

Driving around Delhi — okay being driven around Delhi — when I saw a large poster with a “copyright” symbol on it and the words “Creative Future.” Turns out to be an advert for a contest sponsored by the Creative Future School of the the British Council; the award is a scholarship for creative business people under 35 in the fields of : advertising, architecture, crafts, designer fashion, film and video, interactive leisure software including computer games, music, performing arts – comedy, dance, theatre and the like, photography, publishing, radio, software, television, traditional Indian art forms, and visual arts.

Twenty young people with a business idea in the creative sector will be selected to take part in the Creative Future School at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore in August. There they’ll learn how to structure their business proposition, develop their networking skills, understand what an investor is looking for and hear from successful creative entrepreneurs about how they have built their businesses. The faculty will include senior academics from IIMB, leading figures from creative businesses in India and the UK and other experts.

The contest is a sort of RockStar/Idol competition for young Indian entrepreneurs. Whilst all of the pursuits are creative, all of them are somehow restricted in their creativity by broad restrictive intellectual property laws. You will need Windows Media to appreciate part of the Creative Future site.

Remember I’m here for the “Owning the Future: Ideas and Their Role in the Digital Age” symposium.

In an additional irony, The Hindu announced that “The Government will take the lead in popularising free software, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said on Monday. Free software emerged as a force which could be used for growth and development” while reporting on `Free software for Kerala’s development,’ organised by the IT Mission and the Society for Promotion of Alternate Computing and Employment (SPACE) here which featured a talk by FSF’s Richard Stallman.

1 Comment

  1. Sayan

    The Gandhi (not Ghandi) memorial at Birla House is very thought-provoking and humbling especially when you see how few worldly possesions he had.

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