THE year 2019 will mark the bi-centenary of the death of one of the greatest inventors in history.

In May 1765, a Greenock-born engineer took a walk across Glasgow Green on a Sunday afternoon and come up with an idea that would transform the planet.

James Watt was fixated with the problems posed by the primitive and inefficient steam engines that were then being used to pump water from mines, and had already made several futile attempts to improve them.

Then, on his Sunday walk, the idea for a new device – which he later called the separate condenser – popped into his mind.

It was a notion that would have stunning consequences. The separate condenser changed the steam engine from a crude and inefficient machine into one that became the mainstay of the industrial revolution.

After Watt invented the separate condenser, it became possible to build factories that were driven by cheap, relatively easy sources: coal and steam.

Within a few decades of Watt’s breakthrough, networks of factories and mines, linked by a growing number of railways, spread across the country.

Dozens of university and college buildings (chiefly of science and technology) are named after Watt. The home of Watt’s business partner Matthew Boulton’s, Soho House, is now a museum, commemorating the work of both men.

The University of Glasgow’s Faculty of Engineering has its headquarters in the James Watt Building, which also houses the department of Mechanical Engineering and the department of Aerospace Engineering.

There are statues of James Watt in Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, in City Square, Leeds, in George Square, Glasgow, in Chambers Street, Edinburgh, and in Chamberlain Square, Birmingham. A bust of Watt is in the Hall of Heroes of the National Wallace Monument in Stirling.

Watt also appears on Bank of England £50 notes – only the second Scot in history to do so (along with Adam Smith).

The term horsepower was devised by James Watt in the late 18th century to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses. In 1882, the watt, a unit of measurement of electrical and mechanical power, is named in his honour.

Today his name lights up on nearly every light bulb in the world. In Inverclyde, we may take James Watt for granted – but the world does not.

In the run-up to the bicentenary of Watt’s death, I propose that a week-long festival, similar to the hugely successful Sma’ Shot festival in Paisley, should be pursued in Inverclyde on an annual basis.

This is the least we can do to celebrate the fantastic legacy of one of the greatest inventors of the Enlightenment. The possibilities for the festival are endless, from STEM workshops in schools, to live music, storytelling, to artist and designer showcases.

The James Watt Festival could welcome both locals and visitors alike to celebrate and engage with Inverclyde’s rich and colourful historical roots – with the legacy of our most famous son at the centre.