The World Association of Technology Teachers is proud to help advertise an exciting competition called 'Cracking Ideas'  promoted by the Intellectual Property Office, along with 'Wallace and Gromit'. 

Julia Leighton , of the Intellectual Property Office, provided the following information regarding the competition;

"The Intellectual Property Office”, has a cracking new way of teaching children, at all key stages, the value of innovation and creativity and intellectual property.

With the help of Wallace & Gromit the Intellectual Property Office are running a nationwide "Cracking Ideas Competition" for children aged 4 - 16 years old. All you need to do to enter is come up with an idea for a new theme park attraction or ride incorporating all the thrills and spills from a theme park then identify the intellectual property within the idea.

Through its educational website "Cracking Ideas" the Intellectual Property Office aim to encourage creativity and teach children that they can all innovate, they all own ideas, that innovation can be linked to financial reward and they can exploit their ideas if they are protected by intellectual property.

There are some wonderful prizes on offer, animation packages, family passes for Chessington World of Adventures, signed Nick Park books and a bespoke trophy created by Aardman's model makers.

Nick Park, creator of Wallace & Gromit, said about last year's competition, "It's great to see that Wallace & Gromit continue to inspire budding inventors of all ages, and these Cracking Ideas competition winners have come up with ideas that would make Wallace proud!"

For a chance to bag yourself some fantastic prizes enter the competition at www.crackingideas.com/competition. The Cracking Ideas website contains a wealth of educational resources to introduce students to the world of innovation and creativity. All resources and curriculum links can be downloaded free. These resources include interactive activity packs, one-hour innovation packs, challenges and an exciting competition, all designed to help young people nurture their own creativity and generate new ideas of their own. Students will learn the personal and economic value of intellectual property, as well as how to protect their innovations through the correct use of patents, trade marks, design and copyright.

For more information go to www.crackingideas.com"