Malta welcomes the Commonwealth heads of government as it hosts high-level meetings characterising CHOGM 2005. Malta's own potential contribution to Commonwealth countries is what comes to mind on the eve of this grand event.

Networking for creativity and entrepreneurship seems to be the way forward. The Maltese government recently declared its emphasis on the importance of creativity, innovation and competitiveness. Malta's own "contribution" in this sphere should be high on the island's agenda. Malta can be a testing-ground for international networking projects. Its offer of creative solutions to problems of Commonwealth countries and beyond, including peace-building, could surely enhance Malta's general contribution to CHOGM 2005.

In this context one may start off with considering a "key contributor", namely the keynote speaker at the Commonwealth Business Forum, Edward de Bono, born in Malta and widely regarded as the leading world authority on the subject of creative thinking.

His expression "lateral thinking" has earned its place in the Oxford Dictionary and in important studies and publications all over the world.

The birth of the term "lateral thinking" and the relative "tools" of creative thought are now history. Dr de Bono is best known for his Lateral Thinking, Six Thinking Hats and his Direct Attention Thinking Tools.

In education, most popular is the CoRT Thinking Programme for schoolchildren and youths (all these terms are copyrighted).

Dr de Bono's "tools" are so powerful that some truly amazing results have emerged in many different quarters and disciplines ever since Dr de Bono wrote his first books The Use Of Lateral Thinking and The Mechanism Of Mind. Since then he has gone on to publish 68 books, translated into some 40 languages! The use of lateral thinking skills, and "parallel thinking", is not meant to replace knowledge, logic argument or analysis but to enhance their effectiveness.

Apart from the degree of medicine from the Malta University Dr de Bono has a D.Phil from Oxford, a Ph.D. from Cambridge, a D. Des. (Doctor of Design) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and an LL.D. (honoris causa) from the University of Dundee (for his contribution in the area of human thought). He also holds professorships at the universities of Malta, Pretoria, Dublin City and the University of Central England.

Next month he will receive the Carl Sloane Award from the Association of Management Consulting Firms (Europe, America, Asia), an annual award to the consultant who has contributed most in the sphere of business thinking. He was selected from all the leading business consultants in the world.

Accenture (the well-known US-based leading business consulting organisation) listed Dr de Bono among the 50 most influential thinkers in the world.

A well-known Austrian business journal named Dr de Bono as one of the 20 living visionaries of this century. He was also appointed a Da Vinci professor of thinking at the New University of Advancing Technology in Phoenix, Arizona.

In education, Dr de Bono's work is still spreading. His CoRT thinking method is in use in several countries around the world. This year, Dr de Bono had a meeting with the President of India and they discussed major projects, one of which includes the training of one million teachers to teach thinking in villages and communities. India's Summit Foundation has asked for 50,000 schools to receive training in these methods.

Malta has an on-going CoRT programme in its schools, with the support of the Education Ministry's exchange programme that provides for exchange visits between teachers of Commonwealth countries that have been making use of the expertise of trained teachers from Malta.

The Edward de Bono Foundation (Malta) was the driving force behind the introduction of teaching Thinking into Malta's schools, the training of certified trainers and various other activities including Comenius summer courses and radio/TV programmes.

On December 7 the foundation will launch a national Innovation Week - a multi-directional series of activities.

Under Dr de Bono's personal guidance the foundation fostered the establishment of the World Centre For New Thinking at Bighi Palace, Kalkara.

The University of Malta has its Edward de Bono Institute for the Design and Development7 of Thinking, which originally started as a programme in 1992-93. This institute is in the second year of its Masters in Creativity and Innovation course. It also holds an annual seminar run personally by Dr de Bono and a bi-annual conference.

For his work in the area of cognitive science, a group of senior academics in South Africa placed Dr de Bono on a list of 250 persons who most contributed to mankind in the history of the world.

Dr de Bono has been invited to lecture in 57 countries.

In the social sphere, handicapped and weak individuals are being helped to find self-esteem by learning a better way to "think".

A number of employment agencies and NGOs helping unemployed or people with disability have turned to Dr de Bono's methods for help. The American Creativity Association gave Dr de Bono a lifetime achievement award and inducted him into its Hall of Fame.

In the author's view, Malta's contribution to its Commonwealth partners could include the use of its local facilities for teaching similar mind-development and idea-building techniques.

A medium to long-term plan for inter-Commonwealth thinking-skills technology transfer protocols for political, social and industrial objectives, using the skills, seems in order. An infrastructure can be laid for using Malta as a test-ground for "thinking" projects, like international conflict resolution, using de Bono trainers for facilitation. Embassies can become involved in networking with Malta.

This type of technology transfer between Mata and Commonwealth countries for the building of better brains and outcomes can only bear fruit if taken seriously and activated persistently. Malta's World Centre For New Thinking is an ideal base to start from. Serious creativity can lead to unthinkably useful outcomes!

Dr Pace is chairman/trustee of The Edward de Bono Foundation (Malta) and co-managing director, World Centre for New Thinking.

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