MPU 3252 Invention & Innovation Chapter 3: Let’s Invent & Innovate.

MPU 3252 Invention & Innovation

Chapter 3: Let’s Invent & Innovate

Contents

• Inventor vs Innovator• Inventor’s notebook• Protecting & Marketing Invention or

Innovation

Inventor vs. Innovator

• We are all inventors & innovators• Invention & innovation start with an idea• It may be an idea on how to improve

something or it may be totally new idea that no one has ever thought

Characteristics of Inventor

• Inventors are curious about the world• Inventors generate many possible

solutions to a problem, choose the best idea and pursue it with determination until it works

• Inventors constantly ask, ‘How does it work?’ and ‘How could it work better?’.

Characteristics of Inventor cont..

• Inventors always prepared to seize opportunities which may present themselves

• Inventors able to recognize problems quickly and act to minimize the damage or to neutralize the threat

Characteristics of Innovator

• Only a small percentage of innovators are also inventors

• If necessity is the mother of invention, obsession is the father of innovation

• Innovators iterate and combine preexisting ideas until they incrementally modify an invention such that it embodies a marketable value proposition upon which a sustainable company can be created

Inventor vs Innovator

Inventor’s notebook

• Inventors use a notebooks to WRITE DOWN the ideas, RECORD their observation and DOCUMENT the results of their test / experiment

• The inventor's notebook is an official record of the process invention. It is ongoing record of all the events, actions, experiments and observation during the entire development of invention

Inventor’s notebook cont…

• The inventors write down things that work (and don’t work), sketch ideas for new inventions and make notes about their invention process

Inventor’s notebook cont…

• The notebook will help inventors document the things they do and learnt

• It also includes ideas and list all steps taken while developing the prototype

• The notebook also used for write down the results of the test performed

Notebook Structure Suggestion

1. Date & initial notes every time you work on your ideas

2. Describe all your ideas, test and results in a great detail; describe how u get them

3. Write about the problems you found and how you solved them. Include the results for each test

4. Include sketches and diagrams of your work whenever possible. Explain what your invention does and how your invention works. List cost and describe all materials used.

Notebook Structure Suggestion cont…

5. Include photos of all your inventions in progress. They are excellent proof of what you have invented.

6. Have another person sign and date your log entries as a witness to prove the work and ideas are yours.

7. Explain why your idea is new and original (an invention) or that it is an improvement on an already existing invention (an innovation)

Intellectual Property

• Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

• IP is protected in law, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create.

• By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish.

Intellectual Property cont…

Intellectual Property cont…

• In Malaysia, MyIPO (Perbadanan Harta Intelek Malaysia) was responsible for all related matters regarding on the intellectual property.

• MyIPO provide a service of registering the patent, trademark, copyright, industrial design and etc.

Protecting Your Invention - Patent

• Patent is providing inventors with exclusive rights to manufacture a device or process for a period of time that has been fixed

• Assigned to individual, not corporation• The inventor must keep dated logs in

order to prove who invented something first

Protecting Your Invention - Trademarks

• Trademarks give an individual or corporation a right to identify a product with a graphic symbol that customers can readily recognize for the quality and service they have earned

• It has no time limit

Protecting Your Invention - Copyrights

• Provide the creators of written materials the right to a profit from the sale of their works for a definite period of time

• Related to written material, graphic material or music

Protecting Your Invention – Industrial Design

• A registered industrial design confers the owner of a registered design the exclusive right to make, import or sell or hire out any article to which the design has been applied

• The maximum protection period is 25 years.

Protecting Your Invention – IC Layout Design

• A layout-design is eligible for protection automatically upon fulfilment of the following conditions:– It is original, i.e. the result of its creator's own

intellectual effort and not commonplace among creators and manufacturers of integrated circuit;

– It has been fixed in a material form or incorporated into an integrated circuit;

– The right holder of the layout-design is a qualified person.

Marketing Your Innovation

Six steps to take your product to market:

1. Buy one or two well-regarded books on inventing

2. Conduct market research. Identify products on the market, both online and in stores that are similar to your product idea, and note which companies make them and where they are sold

3. Identify and read any patents similar to your concept

Marketing Your Innovation cont.

Six steps to take your product to market:

4. Develop as good a prototype as possible with your available resources

5. Connect with other entrepreneurs in your local area or online to share information, resources & support

6. Draft a simple business plan

Conclusion

• Each inventors have the same characteristics such as curiosity and recognize problem easily

• Meanwhile the innovators iterate and combine preexisting idea to market the product

• Inventor’s notebook is an official record of the process of invention. It records the ideas, thoughts, experiments and activities during the invention

Conclusion cont…

• Invention must be protected under the IP Law. In Malaysia, it was controlled by MyIPO

• Inventor should become an entrepreneur. Good marketing of your invention can give you a good returns

References

• John Greathouse. “Few Entrepreneurs Are Both Inventors and Innovators” http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngreathouse/2012/06/07/few-entrepreneurs-are-both-inventors-and-innovators-which-are-you/. October 2014.

• “Lemelson Young Inventors Challenge Inventor’s Notebook” http://www.nevadasciencefair.net/Files/downloads/LYIC%20Notebook.pdf. October 2014.

• Tamara Monosof. “Get Your Product to Market in Six Steps”. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/201526. October 2014.

• “Laman Web Rasmi Perbadanan Harta Intelek Malaysia”. http://www.myipo.gov.my/. October 2014.