Innovation is just the antidote we need in the current economic climate, according to inventor and expert in industrial automation Dick Morley.

"Innovation is the aspirin of the economy," he said. "Everybody wants innovation in a depression because it carries them above, because when everybody is busy, you don't need new products."

Morley is one of the leading lights in the automation industry and has been invited by long-time innovator and global specialist in energy management Schneider Electric to celebrate in Beijing the 40th anniversary of one of his key innovations: the Modicon, which is the world's first Programmable Logic Controller (PLC).