The Big Idea was a science centre located in the town of Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland.

Located on the former Nobel Explosives manufacturing site on the Ardeer Peninsula, a new science and learning centre was planned in 2000 by the Millennium Commission, to celebrate the history of invention and inventors.

There is a time capsule buried below the reception area of the museum, placed there by students of Ardeer Primary School in June 1999.

Brian Donohoe MP stated “The death warrant came around the first day they gave a grant to the science centre in Glasgow.

People aren’t going to come by the science centre in Glasgow to look at a similar facility in Irvine.” The museum closed its doors in early 2003, after failing to attract sufficient visitor numbers.