So you’ve got a great new invention that will change the world and / or make you very rich? The question now is what you do with big ideas and how you take from an abstract concept floating around in your skull into something that you can sell to others on a large scale and that will change the world for the better?
Well this will partly depend on your discovery, and if you have come up with new software for example then you will not really need anything and manufacturing can not just roll out their own ideas and see if it takes off. This works for Mark Zuckerberg, and can work for you.
But for most of our big ideas we are not software inventions, but more practical things that can really help us around the house. Things like chairs or design new tools that meet existing needs. Eureka moments come at times when we find ourselves trying to do something and fight more than necessary. Would not it be much easier ‘if’ we think – and that’s when we have a great idea. Perhaps a new type of packaging that makes the food more fresh while it is easy to use for the consumer, or it may be a new type of game that can play with the family.
Throughout history there are countless cases that Eureka moment and they have very much shaped the way today’s society. Every time you use a screwdriver, drinking from the cup, leaning on the table, playing with power ball gyroscope, walked on stage, or extra-long sweep with a broom … You use the discoveries of others. Did you know that the Hoover vacuum cleaner was created by none other than President Hoover? Similarly, perhaps even more surprising the cat flap was invented by Isaac Newton!
So how do you get on board with creating nonsense? Well once you have your invention you need to get it produced on a larger scale and you need to have it perfected. Industrial design for new discoveries help you to do this, take your idea and make it more workable. For example ‘Very Light Car’ recently won the automotive X prize, which means will get the funds to be developed for commercial sale. But a provision of the prize is that the car must have an industrial design so it will be possible – this is an example of how an ‘idea’ is not enough without being able to be applied in the real world.
There are other actions and steps to take when you have a genius idea, and you for example need to be protected by law against theft of your intellectual property – there are few things more depressing than going to start a business only to find that someone else has beaten you to punch using your idea. To avoid this, make sure that you look into getting your idea patented before you take further. Be careful who you tell about the new concept and only released once you have the power to launch it commercially. This way even if someone else steals your concept, they will come late to the party and you will have captured the majority of market share.