Business

The creativity city

Published 23 June 2011

Brighton and Hove is the number one city in the country for inspiration and creativity, according to controversial Fathers4Justice campaigner and ice cream businessman Matt O'Connor.

The keynote speaker at the University of Brighton innovation and enterprise awards (on Thursday), Mr O'Connor said the city was a centre for inspiration: "It breeds ideas and has a culture of creativity. I have travelled a lot and I have not found a city like it anywhere in Britain."

He said he was looking to local business people to help Britain recover from the current financial troubles. He urged them to be as daring and as "stupid" as he had been, to "dream big, don't think small", adding: "Our future relies on it." Most important of all, he said: "Stay hungry, stay stupid".

Matt O’Connor at the innovation and enterprise awards

Mr O'Connor made headlines around the world when he scaled the walls of Buckingham Palace and later threw purple powder at then Prime Minister Tony Blair in the Commons during a campaign for rights for estranged fathers. He attracted more attention – and millions of website hits - when he launched a line of "subversive ice creams", including his contentious Baby Gaga ice cream, made with breast milk.

He said being stupid, or taking daring risks, had led to major breakthroughs in history including Gutenberg's printing press in the 15th century. What market was there in an age when no-one could read, he asked?

"We need creativity and innovation – this country is in a hell of a state and we need people to sort it out."

Mr O'Connor was joined on stage at the university's Sallis Benney Theatre in Brighton by Colin Monk, the university's Pro-Vice-Chancellor (business and marketing) to present awards for enterprise innovation by students, alumni and staff, and for achievements and collaborative work by businesses and members of Profitnet, a business development and support programme developed at the university to enable small and medium-sized enterprises to help themselves and their peers.

Enterprise award winners

Awards

Student/alumni Entrepreneurship (£1,000 prize) – David Ferguson for Loft Storage Stilts to provide more storage space and increase insulation.
Student/alumni Social Enterprise (£1,000 prize) – Lydia Addison for Free by Design, a fashion and textile agency to market undergraduates' work.
Enterprising Partnership (private sector) – Dr Jonathan Gates from the University of Brighton and Derek O'Connor of Wildlife Splash for household energy-saving research in Mayfield and Five Oaks, East Sussex.
Enterprising Partnership (public and third sectors) – Zoe Osmond from the University of Brighton, James Grugeon from Environment Protection UK and Tom Chute from Brighton and Hove 10:10, for their partnership to promote sustainability in Brighton and Hove.
Profitnet Star Performer – Nathan Hayward of More Than Handy and Keith Pordum from Bon Appetit.
Profitnet Innovation Champion – Keith Pordum from Bon Appetit.
Profitnet SuperGroup – Profitnet West Sussex Group.

Photographs by Jim Holden