The Big Debate - Ten more ideas

Be ambitious and aim... low. It sounds mad, but I think some people were discussing the problem with large projects / initiatives having lots of money attached, largely that they're often then crippled / stifled by paperwork and a need to 'report' on outcomes. Someone said they'd be interested to see smaller projects with smaller pots of money that could be more fluid, and I'd also like to see the effect of sparking small bushfires of creativity like that. An example was the BCC DIY work which came about very quickly, with little need for planning / funding. A lot of people were talking about it over a concentrated period - it now seems to have gone a bit quiet, but it was a good catalyst. These kind of projects need the creativity and enthusiasm more than the money and can create great profile, develop learning, transfer knowledge and provide the basis for research/further work.

How do large structures / organisations work with small ones? One problem I think smaller SMEs and freelancers may find is that although there are structures to support them, they may be unsure as to how that can happen, or the benefit. How do we communicate this? Anyone organisation who has put on a free event they feel will benefit the attendees and then faced the frustration of people not attending, will understand this.

The creative industries are... In the same way that we forgot on the day to talk about the midlands, rather than Birmingham, we shouldn't forget CI is at least

• Advertising
• Film and video
• Architecture
• Music
• Art and antiques markets
• Performing arts
• Computer and video games
• Publishing
• Crafts
• Software
• Design
• Television and radio
• Designer fashion

...if you go with the DTI categories, or we might need new categories.

If the video games industry is so large, larger than film industry even, why (to my knowledge) are there no major developers based in Birmingham? Yes, Codemasters, Blitz and Freestyle Games are based in Leamington, but what is it about Leamington that makes it suitable / attractive to those companies and the leaders in their field that they attract? It's surely not the shops, nightlife, house prices or transport links...?

Where is the Custard Factory for the areas of architecture, or fine art? Is there a midlands hub for publishing?

What is the potential for invading unused buildings for a month at a time? What would the effect be of five Digbeth creative industries moving into and working in a Walsall warehouse for a month? What might we learn from that kind of experiment? Or from inviting graduate creatives to do the same? Don't forget, not all unused buildings are owned / managed by councils.

Give a creative industry a shop front. E.g. something that is a visible working space, rather than a hidden office, only really visible online. For example, a street level shop space in Birmingham New Street, or in a smaller town? They would meet a different kind of client or interested party, but in greater volume. It might give them a better understanding of the context they work within, that's it's not part of a small hub, but a large city that consists of hundreds of businesses in all kinds of sectors - commercial, manufacturing, service industry, healthcare, etc. I think Make Architects have a shop front in the Mailbox.

Team up thinkers with doers - technologists, programmers, designers, makers, builders, sculptors

Help undergraduates into business. What initiatives are in place for equipping soon-to-be (creative) graduates with business and employment skills? Are these built into university and college courses? E.g. how to complete tax returns, how to engage with clients, how to develop online portfolios, desk research skills, project management. i.e. the kind of skills explored in magazines like Computer Arts. And where these initiatives exist, how visible are they to the people that need them? I'm not sure if it's enough to make these available to people once they've graduated - I would consider making 'business engagement' compulsory modules as part of a final year of study.

There are probably enough social media events and associated cafés - but how about spaces that encourage creativity in different ways, like a café / library hybrid (Librafe? Cabrary?). Something like a relaxed, open research library of periodicals, magazines and books. I'm sure we've all seen them in other cities, I've never come across one in Birmingham.

Lo-tech spaces to think, work, create ideas. Spaces to think - and here's an idea, spaces to think that DON'T have network points, wifi, or electric supply, so they're cheap to maintain and encourage lateral thinking. E.g. the beanbag room at Perry Barr BCU may be a bit of a dot.com cliché, but it encourages creative thinking without the reliance on being able to Google, phone or tweet someone.

David Burden had great ideas about use of university spaces. Where two unexpected groups mix, what does one group learn from the other, if anything? Do people interact? What is the financial implication of running a space like this?

Jerome Turner is Design Manager at User-lab, BCU.