James Dyson
James Dyson
Sir James Dyson OM CBE FRS FREngis a British inventor, industrial designer and founder of the Dyson company. He is best known as the inventor of the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the principle of cyclonic separation. According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2013, his net worth in 2013 was £3 billion...
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth2 May 1947
art escaped mini school took
When I escaped to art school it was a Mini that took me there.
problem solve engineers
As an engineer I'm constantly spotting problems and plotting how to solve them.
technology needs investors
We need to encourage investors to invest in high-technology startups.
thinking government people
When decisions on nuclear power stations and runways are delayed and the government dilly-dallies, people think they aren't important.
house machines electric
When I started off, I was working in a shed behind my house. All I had was a drill, an electric drill. That was the only machine I had.
thinking four firsts
I imported the first Mac into England in 1984; you know, the beige box. I imported what I think were the first four that came into England. I never opened the instruction manual. That was the best thing about it.
use want way
I've obviously used fans - I wouldn't say all my life, because we couldn't afford them when I was young, but from my 20s and onwards we've had to use fans. And I've always loathed them. Everything about them. The way you adjust them, getting them at the angle you want. Carrying them. Cleaning them. The danger of putting your finger in them.
thinking research-and-development ideas
If you didn't have patents, no one would bother to spend money on research and development. But with patents, if someone has a good idea and a competitor can't copy it, then that competitor will have to think of their own way of doing it. So then, instead of just one innovator, you have two or three people trying to do something in a new way.
technology effort want
If you really want to improve technology, if you want things to work better and be better, you've got to protect the person who spends a lot of effort, money, and time developing that new technology.
past selling-things trying
In the past, the U.K. got away with selling things that weren't unusual. Now it's no use trying to export without having something that's unusual and better.
technology east world
The way the world is going, it's technology driven. And it isn't just driven by the old super powers, it's driven by the far east and new emerging economies.
home interesting broke
[In my home workshop,] generally I'm mending things, which is interesting because you learn a lot about why they broke.