Every city should have a few places where one can go and get charged by new ideas, innovations and thoughts.One should never make feasibility the enemy of desirability.A large number of us have new ideas and we kill them ruthlessly by remarks such as: "But, will it work? Have I seen it anywhere wouldn't people laugh at it? Wouldn't I look childish if I share this idea?Who do I tell about it?What is the guarantee that my idea will not be stolen or taken forward? Etc."

There are many more killers of creative ideas, which we all, consciously or subconsciously, allow to annihilate our creativity.It is also true that some of us may be less creative but can be more constructive in commenting on creative ideas of others.Indian habits of thought have to change.The first change we need is not to dismiss somebody's idea out of hand just because it didn't occur to us.

The parentage of ideas is less important than their future friends and neighbors.Give deserving ideas a chance by listening to them and taking them forward.Today morning, a professor from a Law School called up to narrate an exciting story about how a schizophrenic patient under treatment by doctors responded exceedingly well to high dose of vitamin C recommended by noble laureate, Linus Pauling.

The question was: Where should any such an insight be shared?Are there community knowledge platforms where people can post their ideas, solutions, discoveries or rediscoveries of old solutions such as the one by Pauling, first enunciated in 1940 and still being rediscovered?

The idea of Community Platform for Innovation and Knowledge (CPIK) is to provide a real i.e., physical as well as virtual platform for experimental ideas, knowledge, insights to be shared in a manner that people can follow up through face to face meeting.This place will have workshops, fabrication centre and a small library where children and other young people can come and try their ideas for various products and services.In due course, CPIK will become decentralized incubation centres.Someone from the community will sponsor somebody else's idea and thus local self-help tradition will become stronger.The culture of cribbing i.e., complaining about things that don't work, will be replaced by culture of creativity, collaboration and cooperative problem solving.

Honey Bee Network and SRISTI and GIAN are in communication with AMCto trigger such centres in the inner city.We could organize local Traditional Food Festivals, idea competition among children, entrepreneurship fair for the start-ups and various other initiatives where ideas, innovations, investment and enterprise converge.

It will gratify many hearts to learn that NIF will provide copies of patent applications to all the children receiving awards at the hands of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam on 8th morning at IIMA.Many of the ideas of the children have been fabricated by the students of DAICT and other institutions besides a network of private fabricators.If you want to see a crutch with a shock absorbing spring and if you want to meet the youngest inventor of class one from Tamil Nadu, then you know where to go on 8th morning.Looking forward to hearing from the communities that want to take lead in setting up Community Platform for Innovation and Knowledge.