Someone has actually sat down and worked out how the more densely populated a city, the more actual collisions take place, leading to more patents being registered – roughly speaking, the moe people we encounter, the more ideas we have, the more new things happen.

I love this.  The industrial mindset removes such collisions, making it possible for you to stay focused for long periods so you’ll be more productive.  But our work spaces are changing, they are becoming more creative.

The industrial workspace is often single location, fixed spaces, isolational, routinised.  Creative workspaces are multiple, adaptable, communal, freewheeling.

Yesterday morning I sat down with a plethora of entrepreneurial* and imaginative people from a  range of businesses and interests who’d gathered in an artisan coffee shop because they wanted to meet other people like them – not knowing what might happen, they were willing to invest one to two hours in order to do this.  Interesting.

I find myself imagining the possibility of adaptable space being made available where people like these can bring their laptops and iPhones and cameras, plug in for a few hours and also meet others doing the same – bring on the collisions.  (And it’s doesn’t have to be only those who earn their income in these ways, but also people who are pursuing something in their free time which matters to them.)

If you’re anticipating a meeting with someone, try a different space.  If you have some work to do, why not find a cafe somewhere … or the museum or art gallery?  If you have some spare space, why not open it to people who would normally work alone but could pay you something to work in a communal environment for a while?  If you normally work alone, why not google out some possibilities for meeting with others?  If there’s nothing around, why not start it?

Rhinos can run at thirty miles-an-hour but can’t see thirty one feet in front of their horns.  That’s why they’re collectively called a crash.  Brilliant.  We could name them the mascot for entrepreneurs in the creative age.

(*I like Mitch Joel’s definition of an entrepreneur – it’s big and wide and potentially includes everyone who’s ever had an itch about anything: ‘A true entrepreneur is someone who has an uncanny desire to create the future; someone who sees inefficiencies in the work we’re doing – day in and day out.’