Some insight into that timeless challenge and the connected, sometimes interdisciplinary web of creativity will emerge time and again during Lexington's world-class ideaFestival, which convenes Tuesday through Saturday.

"We're convinced that innovation is what it's all about," said Kris Kimel, president of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp., a nonprofit created in 1987 to press for innovation and technology-based job development throughout Kentucky.

"Anybody in a competitive position, whether it's a business, an entrepreneur or an organization like a university, how well they succeed is determined in large measure by how well they innovate."

The event (more information is at www.ideafestival.com) brings together world-class speakers, performers, artists and business people into a 33-event festival.

Among the speakers are:

Helene Andersson, business manager for Life Science at Silex Microsystems AB in Stockholm, Sweden; James Brubaker, president of physical production at Universal Studios; Iain Couzin, a professor of biology with a joint appointment at Princeton and Oxford universities, who is the world's expert on Swarm Theory (that intelligent systems evolve out of apparent chaos).

Also, Michael Fitzpatrick, award-winning cellist and musical composer who has worked with the Dalai Lama; Neil Gershenfeld, director of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms; Sir George Martin, producer and composer who brought the Beatles to the world; Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, defense analyst for Congress and the Pentagon and former member of Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers.

The first ideaFestival in 2000 drew about 3,000 people. The second, in 2002, brought 7,500 to Lexington. The 2004 version is projected to bring 10,000 to 12,000 to the event, which will have 32 speakers at a handful of locations in Greater Lexington.

The kick-off event is 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Northern Kentucky University METS Center in Erlanger, where Dr. Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr., director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, is expected to describe his rise from a single-parent home, low self-esteem, bad grades and poverty to become one of the Library of Congress's 89 Living Legends and a renowned authority on the separation of conjoined twins.

At the event, which costs $39, Carson is expected to detail how "thinking big" can change neighborhoods, cities and lives. Student tickets are $10, and reservations are available online at www.ideafestival.com.

Also the president and co-founder of the Carson Scholars Fund, which recognizes young people of all backgrounds for exceptional academic and humanitarian accomplishments, Carson believes it is time to change the perception of achievers among their peers across our nation.

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E-mail jeckberg@enquirer.com