Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Invention extraction made simple

Hello everyone. 

Just posted the below to twitter regarding how to grow a companies IP, thought it was useful and wanted to republish here: 

Stay simple - focus on the 5 core stages in invention extraction: brainstorm, synthesize, prioritize, expand, protect.

Brainstorm w/ individuals or groups, look for both whitespace ideas and current development projects. Critical point - ID the right problems
Synthesize ideas by generalizing and grouping to focused themes. Remove the unnecessary. Ask if X is a specific example of Y. Find the Y's.

To prioritize ideas 1) set the criteria 2) choose a ranking schema 3) assemble a diverse ranking team 4) rank in private 5) discuss together

To expand inventions - take every descriptor in the synthesized idea, and treat it as an axis about which an invention can be developed.
To protect ideas, understand the strategic landscape from a business, tech, and legal perspective, then apply the best IP tool (patent, etc)

Hope this is useful. 

Best,
Erin-Michael