Calling all young inventors!

Wallace and Gromit need your cracking ideas

Think you’ve got what it takes to help Wallace and Gromit in their next business venture? Why not enter this year’s Cracking Ideas Competition!

The Intellectual Property Office has teamed up with Aardman Animations to challenge the nation’s children to come up with a ‘cracking idea’ that Wallace and Gromit would be proud of. Following hot on the heels of the innovative duo’s bakery success in ‘A Matter of Loaf and Death’, children up and down the country are being asked to suggest a new business venture for Wallace and Gromit. Once they’ve come up with their ‘cracking idea’, entrants have to think about how intellectual property (patents, trade marks, designs and copyright) can help protect their creativity.

The Cracking Ideas competition is open to all 4 - 16 year olds in schools, clubs or individually at home. To help children get their thinking caps on, there are three fun activity packs available online - all they need is a pencil! The website, Cracking Ideas , also has a ‘teacher’s area’ with educational resources, all linked to the national curriculum, to introduce children to the concept of innovation, and how it fits into their daily lives.

Lawrence Smith-Higgins at the Intellectual Property Office commented: "This is the third Cracking Ideas Competition and we are looking forward to seeing some really creative entries from young budding innovators. Creativity and innovation continue to play a vitally important role in British business, and we hope this will give young people a taste of what they can achieve in future, as well as educating them about the role of intellectual property."

Sean Clarke, Head of Aardman Rights added "The Cracking Ideas exhibition has been a huge success and this is a great opportunity to become part of it and let us know about your own big idea. We’re looking for the kind of ingenious, original and crazy ideas that could have been dreamed up by Wallace and Gromit themselves!"

The national winners will receive a bespoke trophy created by Aardman. The twelve regional winners will each receive a laptop, Fleeced! board games and DVDs.

For more information please contact Eulogy! on +44(0)207 927 9999 or email intellectualpropertyoffice@eulogy.co.uk.

Notes to editors

• Cracking Ideas Competition:
  The competition is running alongside the Wallace and Gromit ‘World of Cracking Ideas’ exhibition at The Science Museum and is open to children and young people between the ages of 4 and 16. The entries will be broken down into three age groups: 4 to 7, 8 to 11 and 12 to 16 years old. There will be five shortlisted winners from each region for each age category, which will then be broken down into a regional shortlist. At the national stage, the overall winner from each age group will be selected from the four regional winners in each age category. The closing date for entries is 31 October 2009. For more information visit http://www.crackingideas.com/ .
• The Intellectual Property Office:
  The Intellectual Property Office is within the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and responsible for the national framework of Intellectual Property rights, comprising patents, designs, trade marks and copyright. Its role is to help manage an IP system that encourages innovation and creativity, balances the needs of consumers and users, promotes strong and competitive markets and is the foundation of the knowledge based economy.
  
  It operates in a national and an international environment and its work is governed by national and international law, including various international treaties relating to IP to which the United Kingdom is a party.

Date of release: 5 May 2009