Steve Wozniak urges UK tech firms to foster culture of creativity

Apple co-founder and Fusion-io chief says staff must be given freedom to experiment

UK technology firms need to do more to foster creativity among their employees in order to drive innovation in the market, according to Apple co-founder and chief scientist of Fusion-io, Steve Wozniak.

Great products come from experimenting and pursuing natural curiosity, he told delegates at IP Expo in London, explaining how his former employer HP used to promote experimentation which led to the creation of the personal computer.

"I was very lucky because I was working at HP and there were principles laid down by the founder. One was that an engineer could go in at night and have access to all the parts and tools they needed and build things of their own design, if their supervisor approved," he added.

"Nowadays most companies close everything and there is no way you can do anything on your own. They'll pay thousands of dollars to have you go to classes at various universities, but it is much better education to allow them to build something of their own design for themselves."

He said companies need to let employees' natural abilities come through organically as this leads to better work and more contented staff.

"When someone builds something for themselves they are going to work hard and develop their mental approaches towards designing other products, which will be to the benefit of the company," he said.

"The things that are in your heart that you love will drive you to do much better work than any salary could."

Steve Wozniak urges UK tech firms to foster culture of creativity

Apple co-founder and Fusion-io chief says staff must be given freedom to experiment

Interestingly, Wozniak noted that he was very loyal to HP and had wanted the firm to build what became the Apple computer. In a move that it must be regretting now, HP turned his requests to build the personal computer down five times.

Wozniak also noted that young people have an advantage when it comes to pursuing technology-based ideas, as proven by recent success stories.

"I look at companies like Apple, Google and Facebook. They come from young people just out of college. [They weren't] tied to income and responsibilities that kept them from taking risks," he explained.

Although Apple has been phenomenally successful, Wozniak admitted he never imagined that smartphone devices would become as popular as they have done, saying that in the past he was unsure whether there would ever be enough memory on a hard drive to store even a basic MP3 file.

"What we have gotten to astounds us. Even though Moore's Law looks ahead to certain conclusions, you never see it until you're right there," he said.

In terms of Apple's future, Wozniak said he sees the firm continuing to be successful due to the culture laid down by Steve Jobs, and that he has high hopes for AI, led by the introduction of Siri to the iPhone 4S.

"In the future, computers will be able to hold conversations with people and become teachers, friends and even babysitters," he added.