About IDEAction 

IDEAction was set up in April 2007 by Andrew Llanwarne. It followed 26 years of working in the public sector providing guidance and support to the private sector, often in partnership with other organisations.  Throughout this time, he has applied his passion and energy for sustainable development and effective management of knowledge, even before "knowledge management" became a discipline of its own. 

From 1981 to 1991, Andrew was a leading figure in the Area Tourist Board Network, in Aberdeenshire, Perthshire, then for 5 years as director of Dumfries & Galloway Tourist Board. He introduced new initiatives in tourism marketing, visitor services and staff training, and had a leading role in tourism development projects, large and small.

From 1991 to 2007, he worked in the Scottish Enterprise Network, first in Ayrshire, then Tayside, providing support to individual businesses and preparing strategies for tourism, economic development, and the life sciences. These involved close working with the private sector and partner organisations.

From 1999 he took on a series of leading SE Network roles at Director level: reviewing the approach to sustainable development and climate change; devising the framework and techniques for knowledge management; helping to manage organisational change; and devising and implementing a consistent project management methodology. Again, these required extensive consultation and collaboration with partner organisations and businesses.

Alongside these roles, Andrew developed his expertise in scenario planning with the Global Business Network in San Francisco, and has held a number of significant positions with external organisations, particularly in the field of sustainable development. He has given conference presentations in sustainable development, knowledge management and economic development. 

European collaboration has been a frequent theme of his work, from early days as secretary of the "Conference Europe of Regions" in Denmark, and the "Gredensco" sharing of experience project, to the DG Regio Sustainable Development Pilot Project from 1997-2000 and the more recent Synchroni KM Forum international meetings.  One of his latest projects used narrative techniques to examine the benefits of membership of an organisation made up of European regions.

He has built up an extensive network of contacts in the consultancy field, and is able to draw on experienced individuals as associates, where necessary, to meet the requirements of a particular commission.

Resilience and Sustainability

What do we mean by "resilience"? Is it the same as "sustainability"? If not, what are they differences?

There is a lot of discussion these days about "resilient communities" and "resilient cities", for example in connection with adaptation to climate change. If cities and communities have considered the risks presented by disruptive climate change such as severe weather, flooding and high temperatures, and planned how they will respond to these risks, then they are boosting their resilience.

But is "resilience" becoming another trendy buzzword that is itself at risk of becoming too broad to be useful - a bit like "sustainability"? These questions are explored in more detail (click on heading above), and feedback and comments are welcome.

Plastic bags and the impact of a story

Finally Gordon Brown has stolen a march on his cautious environment secretary Hilary Benn by saying that he wants to see an end to the use of billions of free plastic shopping bags every year in Britain.  Could it be that a simple story about wildlife in Hawaii has persuaded him, where no amount of reasoned argument has succeeded in the past?

Learning from our experience - a practical example

The latest calls in the UK Parliament for an inquiry into the Iraq War highlight the importance of learning from our experience. Too often it takes a high-profile debacle such as this before organisations and politicians are forced into holding an inquiry, whereas really we should be aiming to review projects and business activities on a regular basis in order to improve our performance in the future.