Innovation starts with dreaming. So, to innovate, we need good dreamers. Who are the best dreamers we know? Kids. Artists. Philosophers, maybe. People less confined by the shackles of scientific knowledge. On the other hand, who is more likely to be shackled? People who think they know a lot.

A lot of science communication, in science centers, events and elsewhere, consists of experts talking and others listening. Not necessarily in form – there are many discussion, debate and interactive formats around – but definitely in tone. The ‘expert mentality’ is subtle and pervasive, and hard to escape.

What we should be doing is listening to the dreamers. Dismissing the questions and dreams of your audience as ‘impossible’ is a waste of their ‘ignorance’. Wild ideas should instead be embraced – they are the starting points for true ‘out of the box’ thinking.

We argue that we should spend more time harnessing the power of ignorance. Our example projects look at science in unexpected ways, through the eyes of laymen, kids and dreamers. Speakers have turned peoples’, including scientists’, preconceptions of science on their heads, encouraging all involved to ‘think outside the box’.