The Internet is full of stories of innovation where breakthrough ideas came from non-R&D departments. An idea sharing platform that’s capable of capturing innovation enterprise is essential to capitalize on such a potential.
For instance, Bayer’s WeSolve platform (an internal idea forum) encourages its employees to generate new ideas and solve specific technical or business issues.
Similarly, PwC encourages innovation from front-line employees by creating a culture of continuous improvement, empowering them to identify areas for improvement and implement their ideas using digital kaizen.
However, driving new ideas from employees is challenging and time-consuming – because the process of ideation to obtaining a patent is fraught with several hurdles.
This calls for an idea sharing platform that offers the following features:
- A short inventor-friendly idea capture form to minimize friction in idea submission
- Idea tracking throughout different phases of the patent lifecycle to keep the employees engaged
- Real-time collaboration with subject matter experts to refine ideas and to choose only the most promising ones for patenting
- Informative dashboards to monitor innovators’ KPIs
- One-click view of the complete patent portfolio
In this post, we run through the key benefits of using the TIP ToolTM by Triangle IP for startups, individual inventors, and small-to-medium-sized enterprises, then discuss some alternative idea sharing platforms.
You can register for free to see exactly what you can do with Triangle IP.
5 Best Online Idea Sharing Platforms to Try in 2023
Most idea sharing platforms, such as Asana or Trello, are too generic or need too much information, which busy inventors skip or struggle to answer.
So in this post, we’ll list the five best free idea sharing platforms that help you to crowdsource ideas from employees more effectively, starting with the TIP ToolTM by Triangle IP.
The TIP ToolTM by Triangle IP
The TIP ToolTM by Triangle IP offers a user-friendly solution for managing the entire IP lifecycle, from ideas to patents. The tool enables anyone in the enterprise to submit and track innovative ideas easily.
Key Benefits Offered by the TIP ToolTM:
#1 – Capture Enterprise-Wide Innovation
The TIP ToolTM allows anyone within the organization to submit and monitor the progress of their creative ideas, streamlining the patent process with cutting-edge deep learning technology.
The TIP ToolTM allows for enterprise-wide participation in innovation management while safeguarding the confidentiality of IP-related data. So patentable ideas can now be shared without the risk of them being unintentionally disclosed to the public domain.
#2 – Maximize Participation From Employees
In most cases, inventors do not fill out an Invention Disclosure Form (IDF) because of its complexity. This discourages the inventors from completing the task.
The TIP ToolTM was built to provide a simple, short, and intuitive idea capture form, focusing on minimizing the effort required.
The inventor-friendly form helps capture the idea summary, inventor and manager details, and more. And as ideas progress, innovators can expand upon their initial submission by attaching relevant documents or slide decks. The form can be updated by multiple people on a real-time basis and the participants can also add their review and comments in the idea summary section.
Additionally, the form is highly customizable to your specific needs, including adding, editing, deleting, or hiding fields.
The tool enables users to access stage-specific fields, such as excluding prosecutor information during innovation capture.
The TIP ToolTM offers a downloadable Word or Excel idea capture form for offline use. And the best part about it is that once the form is filled out it can be easily read back into the tool for seamless integration.
#3 – Tag to Groups Ideas Around a Product, Technology, or Any Other Campaign
The TIP ToolTM enables seamless engagement with innovators through tags and comments. Ideas can be organized using tags based on different criteria, such as technology domain, product, teams, or internal terminologies, to make them easily searchable within the tool.
Tags also help to filter ideas and patents according to specific technology, product, or business function.
The TIP ToolTM allows users to filter terms specified by the user or automatically generated for each matter, using tags such as inventor, manager, docket number, serial number, examiner, prosecutor, firm, and others. The TIP ToolTM tags provide a way to classify and search for invention disclosures.
Furthermore, the TIP ToolTM also enables tagging patent applications, which links them to specific products or features.
#4 – Utilize the Drag-And-Drop Interface
The TIP ToolTM simplifies idea management throughout the IP lifecycle, including idea capture, internal vetting, patent drafting, and patent filing stages. The tool allows the users to move the idea through these stages, ensuring that stakeholders are informed of any updates or changes instantly.
The TIP ToolTM is designed for innovation managers without IP backgrounds – which streamlines the patent mining process, making innovation management more accessible and less complicated. Thus users are in full control of their entire innovation management process.
The simplicity of the TIP ToolTM encourages inventors to keep their innovation funnel full while rewarding employees for participating in the patent process – because encouragement to share ideas is fundamental to any patent program.
#5 – Collaborate in Real-Time for Thorough Idea Vetting
The TIP ToolTM allows subject matter experts to collaborate and communicate in real time, just as they would in face-to-face interactions.
The tool enables them to work together seamlessly, allowing users to add comments and edits and use color-coded changes and group editing features that enhance efficiency.
By providing your team with the appropriate collaboration tools, you can promote a thorough vetting of ideas, leading to the selection of the most promising ones for patenting.
The TIP ToolTM keeps track of modifications made to a disclosed invention through version history, allowing for easy visualization of the change path and the ability to roll back specific changes.
#6 – Monitor Ideas, Inventor Progress, and Bottlenecks via an Informative Dashboard
The TIP ToolTM‘s dashboard provides an overview of inventors’ idea pipeline, filed USPTO applications, and existing patents. The tool provides charts and insights that facilitate rapid evaluation of portfolio status and comparison with others in the organization.
The TIP ToolTM also allows innovation managers to get a glimpse of the overall list of ideas submitted and patents filed by their team on a single platform, including which innovator has submitted the most ideas or filed the most patents.
The TIP ToolTM can help identify roadblocks, such as ideas staying in the ideation and vetting stages longer than expected.
The tool’s role-specific dashboards provide relevant status information for each user, enabling inventors and managers to monitor their IP activity and stay aligned with their KPIs.
Pricing
The TIP ToolTM provides a free tier (forever, up to 10 users). Its premium tier costs $50 per month and $495 per year. The TIP ToolTM has a custom tier as well. To learn more, visit its pricing page.
Customer review
The TIP ToolTM has secured a 4.5 rating in G2. Here’s a review from their database.
Click here to read the full review.
ClickUp
ClickUp, an all-in-one productivity platform, is specially designed to help teams across various industries collaborate, manage, gather ideas, monitor project updates, and work together seamlessly, using tasks, docs, chat, whiteboards, and more.
Key Benefits Offered by ClickUp:
#1 – Customize Project Statuses Easily
ClickUp provides its users with the flexibility to create customized project statuses that are unique to each project. These statuses can be easily edited, reordered, and color-coded based on the organization’s needs.
#2 – Visualize Task Dependencies
ClickUp mind maps offer an intuitive and visual way to map out task dependencies and workflows for new ideas.
#3 – Draw, Collaborate, and Manage With Clickup’s Whiteboard
ClickUp’s whiteboard software helps you effectively manage ideas with your team by drawing, collaborating, and connecting ideas directly to your workflow, offering dynamic templates and features such as slash commands, converting shapes into tasks, and real-time editing.
Pros
ClickUp empowers teams to track tasks, brainstorm ideas, create documentation, and content calendars, plan and share tasks and documents with clients, and more.
Pricing: Free to use (best for personal use). Premium price starts at $5 per user/month.
Customer Review
Here’s a screenshot of a G2 review, and to explore more reviews, click here.
BrightIdea
Brightidea is a cloud-based innovation management software that provides organizations with a suite of products to foster the development and implementation of new ideas.
Key Benefits Offered by BrightIdea:
#1 – Engage, Launch, and Track Innovation
Brightidea enables users to engage with employees, launch crowdsourced innovation plans, and track their performance from start to finish.
#2 – Manage Initiatives With Drag-And-Drop
Brightidea helps to manage multiple initiatives through tailored drag-and-drop idea pipelines effectively.
#3 – Streamline Idea Evaluation
Brightidea empowers subject matter experts to evaluate submitted ideas through its built-in scoring system efficiently.
Pros
Brightidea provides innovation consultants who offer advice on maximizing the potential of their platform.
Pricing
Brightidea requires you to submit the contact us form to know the pricing details.
Customer Review
Here’s a screenshot of a G2 review, and to explore more reviews, click here.
QMarkets
Qmarkets is an idea management software that fosters a culture of collaboration to gather, manage, and execute impactful ideas that bring continuous value to your organization.
Key Benefits Offered by QMarkets:
#1 – Accelerate Idea Production
Qmarkets offers a range of products such as Q-360, Q-ideate, Q-optimize, Q-scout, and Q-trend designed to target ideas at different stages of production, starting from the initial concept to implementation.
#2 – Transform Innovation Process
The Qmarkets platform, powered by AI technology, enables you to effortlessly establish and oversee intelligent crowdsourcing processes – helping you evaluate, and execute the most relevant ideas, trends, or insights, resulting in immediate ROI for your organization.
#3 – Gamify Your Idea Generation Process
Qmarkets use gamification techniques that involve crowdsourcing, such as market research, token polling, and mind maps, to engage users in the idea-generation process.
Pros
The Qmarkets team is very supportive, with extensive training during the onboarding process, and they’ll teach you how to customize the platform through an online video chat.
Pricing
Qmarkets requires you to submit the contact us form to know the pricing details.
Customer Review
Here’s a screenshot of a G2 review, and to explore more reviews, click here.
Planview Spigit
Planview Spigit is an online idea management platform that streamlines the crowdsourcing process, allowing you to focus on identifying and developing the most promising ideas.
Key Benefits Offered by Planview Spigit
#1 – Visualize Potential Outcomes
Planview Spigit’s dashboard lets businesses forecast possible results, expenses, and the worth of crowdsourced ideas.
#2 – Prioritize Scalable Ideas
Planview Spigit’s built-in algorithms prioritize ideas with the most potential and scalability above those submitted first or most popular in idea selection.
#3 – Gamify Innovation Management
Planview Spigit can engage participants by utilizing game mechanics, virtual currency, idea trading, and customizable incentives.
Pros
Some users say it is relatively easy to customize a template for idea input in Planview Spigit to tailor it to their organization’s needs.
Pricing
Pricing is unavailable-contact Planview Spigit (now IdeaPlace) for more details.
Customer Review
Here’s a screenshot of a G2 review, and to explore more reviews, click here.
Finding the Right Free Idea Sharing Platform For Your Business
Your reasons for considering a free idea-sharing platform will vary based on your enterprise’s specific needs. Nevertheless, cultivating a culture that promotes the exchange of innovative ideas among your employees is crucial for fostering innovation.
We’ve built the TIP ToolTM – that incorporates the following five core functional elements for crowdsourcing employee ideas within your enterprise:
- Maximize the generation of invention disclosures by leveraging the straightforward idea capture form provided by the TIP ToolTM.
- Track the progress of idea submission – including approval or drafting and filing by counsel, by gaining visibility into different stages.
- Encourage real-time idea brainstorming with domain experts, akin to Google Docs collaboration, to identify the most promising ideas for patenting.
- Provide role-based dashboards, granting restricted access to intellectual property information and ideas.
- Gain a comprehensive overview of your ideas and patent pipelines to identify and resolve bottlenecks, accelerating the patent mining process.
- Provide personalized and limited access to ideas and patent-related information with role-based dashboards.
- Keep yourself informed about the current status of patents and applications with the USPTO.
- Customize your patent prosecution approach by utilizing the TIP Tool’s analytics, which are designed for examiners, patent counsel, and art units.
The TIP ToolTM offers many more capabilities to mine patents and stays on top of the patent portfolio. To explore further, register on the tool now.
Disclaimer: The information in this article/review is sourced from the internet and may not be entirely accurate or up-to-date. We recommend visiting the respective software websites for the most current and reliable information. The opinions expressed here are those of the author and may not reflect the views of Triangle IP. We are not liable for any consequences that may arise from relying on the information provided in this article/review.
