new invention, but how to develop

curiousdada

Hi,
Lets say you come up with a fantastic idea, that could be used by millions of people the world over for saving lives, but haven't a clue how to develop the idea (as in, design an IC circuit and apps for smartphones, etc), where the hell do you go to get help, so as that you dont give away too much info. I dont have major bucks to develop it, so all it is , is an idea at present.

Seth Brundle

If you are sure that it would work and is original, then my first suggestion is to apply for a patent in as many countries as possible.
http://www.patentsoffice.ie/en/patents.aspx

JohnathanM

Better yet, get in touch with somebody who knows what they're doing: http://www.aptma.ie/.

carveone

curiousdada wrote: »

Hi,
Lets say you come up with a fantastic idea, that could be used by millions of people the world over for saving lives, but haven't a clue how to develop the idea (as in, design an IC circuit and apps for smartphones, etc), where the hell do you go to get help, so as that you dont give away too much info. I dont have major bucks to develop it, so all it is , is an idea at present.

This is just my personal view having had some ideas myself and looking to move forward on them, so I hope I'm not offending anyone. I'm just throwing some stuff out there a bit randomly

I think good ideas are relatively plentiful. There's a lot of smart people out there with a lot of great plans and schemes and devices. The trick is to move from that idea to a marketable product. That can be very hard. In a world jammed with technology, product differentiation can be the key to success.

But there are still plenty of people making a living selling interesting stuff online so don't let that put you off. When there are 100s of millions of consumers, snaffing a tiny tiny percentage can be rather profitable.

There are places in Ireland which can advise you on certain projects. I believe Enterprise Ireland and Dublin Enterprise board and the digital hub and all stuff have been mentioned here before. Those guys may be able to provide considerable help and expertise.

From my own perspective, software is easier than hardware. Once you've done the software, your per unit cost is close to zero. The web can make that really work for you. The downside is that everyone expects stuff for close to free these days...

Hardware is a different kettle of fish. Prototyping hardware is not the problem. Putting it in a salable package and getting it certified is. Also I can get 100 pcbs made up and populated and shipped to me no problem. I cannot get 100 cases done like that. You're starting off looking at 20 grand for a bespoke case mould. Use existing designs and off the shelf cases saves yourself some considerable pain.

Anyway, for electronics hardware you can talk to any electronic engineer who'll give you some advice on cost/scalability/feasability etc. Apps for smartphones can be done third party via odesk or by yourself if you've some experience.

I'll add that patents can consume vast amounts of time and money and not provide as much protection as you may think. My personal take on it is to be first to market and stay ahead of the game. Having said that, the situation can be very very different for companies who are looking to the long term so your milage may differ.

I'm just saying what the situation looks like for me personally. I'd have a tendency to prototype first and patent later

liamo1991

I would agree with carveone on some of his points, patents are fairly expensive and take a long time to get and end up being worthless if the product can be done in a slightly different way, so often it can often be better to get on the market first and get known before copies come on the market ( as someone once told me a patent is as strong as how much money you are willing to defend it).

Also i would recommend making simple prototypes if possible even if they are ugly they can tell you more than enough about the product, how it works and if there is any potential problems I have experienced this may times myself as i am studying product design in UL and many times designs could have to be changed and altered to make them better after doing simple testing/ user experience testing on the models and prototypes etc.

If you have/ get people to help you with the prototypes and designs and don't want them stealing your idea non disclosure agreement can prevent that. I know it was alot of wahat was mentioned, maybe going to a product design company they will have the knowledge you will need, there are other potential paths to developent such as Quirky.com (but you only retain something like 37% if it is developed). Don't hessitate to contact if you are wondering anything.

Stainless_Steel

Tell me the idea and I'll give you a 10% cut off anything I make after tax.

carveone

liamo1991 wrote: »

many times designs could have to be changed and altered to make them better after doing simple testing/ user experience testing on the models and prototypes etc.

That's an important point right there. I've seen it where a design came to market and failed because of some flaw that was pointed out immediately by potential customers. I was told that in a recent business course too - if you don't do market research and customer testing you are throwing a dice on you knowing more than your customers.

Again software has the advantage because you can change it in Internet time! But even there I've seen developers ignore stuff like localisation and fail to target the other 500 million people in Europe! They've money too dude!

potential paths to developent such as Quirky.com (but you only retain something like 37% if it is developed).

Nice site, hadn't seen that before. That's a more crowdsourcing way of development.

p

curiousdada wrote: »

Hi,
Lets say you come up with a fantastic idea, that could be used by millions of people the world over for saving lives, but haven't a clue how to develop the idea (as in, design an IC circuit and apps for smartphones, etc), where the hell do you go to get help, so as that you dont give away too much info. I dont have major bucks to develop it, so all it is , is an idea at present.

I'd echo many of other people's thoughts and add this Steve Jobs' quote. "You know, one of the things that really hurt Apple was after I left John Sculley got a very serious disease. It’s the disease of thinking that a really great idea is 90 percent of the work. And if you just tell all these other people “here’s this great idea,” then of course they can go off and make it happen. And the problem with that is that there’s just a tremendous amount of craftsmanship in between a great idea and a great product."

Getting a product to market is 10% idea 90% hard work and good engineering & design. Don't worry about telling anyone your idea as most people won't have an interest in taking the risk or putting the work in. Just keep focused talk to people, do tests, prototypes etc... and work on making your idea a reality.

Good luck!

Slick50

curiousdada wrote: »

Hi,
Lets say you come up with a fantastic idea, that could be used by millions of people the world over for saving lives, but haven't a clue how to develop the idea (as in, design an IC circuit and apps for smartphones, etc), where the hell do you go to get help, so as that you dont give away too much info. I dont have major bucks to develop it, so all it is , is an idea at present.

If you intend to apply for a patent, you cannot disclose your idea beforehand. Once you reveal it to anybody it is regarded as public knowledge, which you cannot patent. In Ireland you can (or could) apply for a temporary patent, which is relatively cheap, and allows you 12months to develope the idea, before you have to apply for a full patent or abandon the patent application.

Another means of protection is copyright, you can add the date and c mark to any drawings and other material used in the developement process. You would need to research this further too.