Creative cool: Reshmi Chatterjee, who made it to the Creative Future long list

JK. Rowling conjured up Harry Potter and his magical world from the grim surroundings of her modest flat in Edinburgh. And her creative idea turned out to be a huge money-spinner. It is to encourage young people with bright ideas that can be translated into lucrative ventures that the British Council has launched the Creative Future project that proposes to reward and nurse budding Indian creative entrepreneurs.

Take Reshmi Chatterjee, for instance. Her innovative proposal to preserve art objects in museums has made her one of the 20 finalists of the Creative Future 2007 project. The finalists get to pursue a two-week residential course at the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore next month. Says Chatterjee, ?I am extremely excited about this project because it will encourage young people like me to excel in creative pursuits.?

The project is the brainchild of Andrew Senior, a leading creative entrepreneur in Britain, and was introduced in India in collaboration with the British Council and IIM-Bangalore. Launched in January 2006, it elicited about 1,200 applications from across the country. ?Creative entrepreneurship is a new concept in India, although it is thriving in the West,? explains Samarjit Guha, head of programmes, British Council, East India.

The Creative Future programme encourages people in the age group of 18 to 35 years to come up with bright ideas that are not only creative but also economically viable. For example, Vikram Iyengar, a Calcutta-based dancer and choreographer, submitted a proposal to develop a centre for dramatic performance. ?I thought of a centre where artistes would be able to interact intimately with the audience,? says Iyengar.

The award covers a wide variety of fields ? from advertising, architecture, software, to photography, publishing and radio. Concepts that have found favour with the judges include interactive museum exhibits, special photography schemes and business proposals involving ceramics, etc. ?We are prepared to consider any worthwhile out-of-the-box idea,? says Guha, adding that the programme is scheduled to run for at least three years.

This year, 60 people were selected from among the applicants and called for interviews. Out of them, 20 have been chosen to attend the two-week residential course at IIM-Bangalore where they will be trained on how to turn a creative idea into a viable business proposition. In the final leg, three out of these 20 will go to London to present their ideas to a panel of judges. The winner will be announced in February in Mumbai. Programme managers hope that the winning idea will be adopted by a firm and the winner will be successfully launched on the path of creative entrepreneurship.

Sujata Sen, director of British Council, East India, is excited about the project. She feels that the programme will help those who don?t have the necessary resources to realise their dreams.