BT workers are expected to look for the most innovative solutions to the most intractable problems.

Evidence to support this came when Computing visited the telecoms provider's head offices in London recently, and was required to leave because of a fire drill.

Workers filing out of the building were actually moaning about missing five minutes' work.

Without a trace of irony, one employee suggested the company could charge staff members £5 to return to the office - in turn making a lot of money for charity - because workers would be so keen to return to their desk.

A desire to do your best and develop creative solutions is all part of a day's work at BT, according to Forrester Research, which recently named BT as the European telecoms industry's innovation leader.

Mike Carr, director of research and venturing at BT - and one of two people Computing interviewed after the fire drill - says innovation is inherent to the company's processes.

Carr is responsible for the idea creation labs at BT's Adastral Park research centre, and his team develops ideas from patents to prototypes. 'A large amount of the technological innovation in the company is generated from my team,' he says.

'The focus for me is a two- to five-year research period, and to consider whether the idea will produce a cost reduction, create new technologies or open a business area.'

Carr also looks after NVP Brightstar, the incubator responsible for creating, funding and spinning out technology-based companies from Adastral Park. Other businesses use the technologies that NVP Brightstar's spun-out companies create - and this system pumps money back into BT.

'You can view it as a money-making exercise, but it's not just about cash,' says Carr. 'The system is helping make BT better so that we can move forward. We absolutely need technology in an economic form.

'The strategic advantages are the major objectives. And, what's more, other people are paying for the development of a product we need.'

But spin-outs are just one component of BT?s innovative approach.

Analysing the value of these developments is the role of Carr's colleague John Nevins, BT's head of service innovation.

Nevins leads Innovation Central - a group that articulates the benefits of research and development into the company. His work provides a translation between the often conflicting languages of technologists and marketers, and then allows BT to make a business decision on specific projects.

Innovation Central's 'hot housing' methodology makes uses of an eclectic mix of external consultants and full-time researchers. Using qualitative and quantitative research techniques, Nevins and his team produce an analysis of the business benefits of technology.

'It gives a good consolidated view of what's happening,' he says. 'Using this system, you can take a technology and look at the business potential around it.'

BT can also use the information Innovation Central provides.

'As with many other corporations, there's innovation happening all over the company, from building to pricing,' Nevins says. 'We need to be innovative and the whole business has responded well.'

Carr agrees the system has created positives for BT, and says Innovation Central has made a real difference during the past two years.

'It's about spotting opportunities and articulating it into something that IT can take forward,' says Carr.

This kind of thinking, he suggests, informs BT's whole strategy across innovation, research and development.

'You have to be innovative in the way you market, produce, operate, maintain and upgrade technology,' Carr says.

What about future objectives for innovation? Carr says BT is keen to 'stretch out' its approach, and is looking to innovate in other areas of the business, including the way it operates and sells services.

Development in services will be increasingly important as the convergence of technology and communications becomes apparent, and the use of broadband continues to grow.

'We're trying to improve the user experience of how you access and use services,' says Carr. 'It's about making things easy for someone that isn?t necessarily a communications specialist.'

A galaxy of bright ideas waiting to shine
NVP Brightstar began life as BT Brightstar in January 2000, with the intention of commercialising the telecoms company's portfolio of 14,000 patents.

A number of companies, focusing on a broad-range of innovative areas, were launched. In March 2003, Brightstar spun out of BT to form NVP Brightstar - and the first companies were incorporated and funded.

Evolved Networks, for example, is a telecoms software developer spun out of BT in 2003. Its software helps telecoms operators automate management of the access network, the portion of the public switched network that connects individual subscribers to the telecoms system.

Vidus, a company that produces a taskforce automation system, was also spun out from BT in 2003.

In its initial year of operations, Vidus increased the adoption of software licences by 73 per cent and was recently purchased by resource management specialist @Road.