People come up with great ideas all the time but very few ever do something about it. This maybe in part due to the mystery around developing and promoting new ideas and this article is designed to make the process clearer. It is simple three step process with a choice of two routes at the end.
Step 1: The first step is to establish whether the idea is original. The individual can do a certain amount of research on the internet themselves to see if they can find the idea online. However the best way to be sure that the idea is original is to commission a worldwide patent search. This will cost around £600 and make sure that a consultation with an expert in the field of inventions is included in the price.
Step 2: Consider options for protecting the idea. Take advice from someone with experience in this field as to the best way to protect the particular idea. This will probably involve a patent or registered design or both. (There is no point trying to do this step until the worldwide patent search has been done. Otherwise a lot of time will be wasted applying for patents only to find someone got there first.)
Step 3: Design and develop the idea and produce presentation boards so the idea can be presented to interested parties. Consider getting a prototype produced to best explain the idea but this is not always necessary and can be expensive.
There are now two routes to choose form.
Route 1: Sell the idea to someone else for them to take to market.
Route 2: The inventor does the hard work to market the idea themselves. invention help
Route 1 is cheaper but the inventor only gets a small percentage payment for every one of the product the company sells. This is typically between 5% and 10% of the factory gate price depending on how much they like the idea and how close to production the idea has got. invention help
Route 2 is much more expensive although with the professional presentation (step 3) an investor might be persuaded to come on board at this point to help pay for the remaining work. These investors are often called “Venture Capitalists.”
This is a simple guide to outline the steps. There is a lot of more information to take in about each step and ideally you need a professional invention company to take you through the process. Check online to make sure there is no bad press about the chosen invention company before handing over any money as unfortunately there are some sharks out there!