A good patent management software must:

• Minimize friction from innovators in submitting ideas for patenting
• Allow inventors, technical reviewers, managers, and patent counsel to edit invention details simultaneously
• Tell you the likelihood of getting a patent 
• Stay in sync with the USPTO
• Give you end-to-end cost estimations for patenting
• Provide informative dashboards to track IP-related metrics

and more.

ideaPoint by Anaqua is a good choice for patent management software if you are a Fortune 500 company. However, it might not be ideal for a medium-sized enterprise looking to streamline its idea capture and patent management processes.

And, if you are looking for ideaPoint (by Anaqua) alternatives to try in 2022, we highly recommend exploring the TIP Tool^TM by Triangle IP.

Top 3 Anaqua’s ideaPoint Competitors to Try in 2022

We’re here to assist you in exploring and selecting the most appropriate patent management software solution for your enterprise. Here are your top three choices:

#1 – Triangle IP’s TIP Tool^TM

#2 – IPFolio

#3 – Decipher

Presented below are benefits, key differentiators, and other parameters about these three ideaPoint (by Anaqua) competitors to ease your selection.

#1 – Triangle IP’s TIP Tool^TM

At its heart, the TIP Tool^TM is a patent management tool. However, you don’t need to be an IP expert using the TIP Tool^TM. It helps you establish control of your entire innovation management process, from ideas to patents. If you require a tool to capture potentially patentable ideas, track their progress, provide actionable patent data intelligence and manage your pipeline frictionlessly, the TIP Tool^TM is ideal.

Key Benefits

Here are the seven key benefits of the TIP Tool^TM in this competitive landscape:

1. Improve the quality of invention disclosures
2. Gain visibility into different stages of your patent pipeline
3. Brainstorm ideas with stakeholders on a real-time basis
4. Make informed patenting decisions with actionable patent data intelligence
5. Manage IP budget wisely with end-to-end patenting cost estimations
6. Stay automatically in sync with the USPTO
7. Get a holistic view of your ideas, patents, and key performance metrics of your innovators

Improve The Quality of Invention Disclosures

An ideal invention disclosure provides a crystal clear understanding of the problem that an idea solves, how it intends to solve it, how the resultant invention will operate, and its feature enhancements versus existing alternatives. 

The inventors can easily share these details through summary sections and attachments while submitting ideas through the TIP Tool^TM. The TIP Tool^TM minimizes friction in the idea capture process by keeping the idea capture form short, relieving the user of remembering one more password, etc.

The idea capture forms are available for download in Word and Excel. The good part is – filled forms are readable back into the tool. The innovation managers can also customize these idea forms to suit their enterprise’s needs.

TIP Tool’s Idea Capture Form

Moreover, the TIP Tool^TM enables thorough vetting by all stakeholders. It allows inventors, technical reviewers, managers, and the patent counsel to brainstorm and edit the information related to captured ideas simultaneously. The tool also gives a patentability score to all the captured ideas based on deep learning patent analytics. Such human and data-backed vetting leads to the selection of only the most promising ideas for patenting.

Also, read – Five Ways to Get Effective Invention Disclosures From Your R&D team.

Gain Visibility Into The Different Stages of Your Patent Pipeline

The TIP Tool^TM allows you to watch your patentable ideas progress through different stages in the IP lifecycle: Idea Capture, Internal Vetting, Patent Drafting, and Filed. You can simply drag and drop ideas from one stage to the next.

Brainstorm Ideas With Stakeholders On A Real-Time Basis

The TIP Tool^TM facilitates brainstorming over ideas like no other tool out there in the market by

• Allowing collaborators to edit the idea summaries simultaneously
• Keeping track of every change made to the idea summary and the person who edited the summary
• Letting collaborators add comments and tag other collaborators in comments
• Decreasing the response time from collaborators by notifying them of the status updates of an idea instantly
• Allowing to add attachments in multiple formats like PDF, image, video, etc.

Make Informed Patenting Decisions With Case Analytics, Patent Counsel, and Examiner Statistics

A patent prosecution decision weighs a lot of factors, including the likelihood of getting a patent, patenting costs, estimated time to allowance, and more. The TIP tool gives a patentability score to each idea by taking into account examiner statistics, patent counsel statistics, average allowance data for the given art unit, etc. 

Manage Patent Budget Wisely With End-to-End Cost Predictions

The TIP Tool^TM will inform you how much a patent will cost you over the years, including the drafting fee, filing fee, attorney fee, maintenance fee, etc. for provisional as well as non-provisional patent applications.

Stay In-Sync With USPTO

The TIP Tool^TM keeps you notified about the status updates from the USPTO for published and unpublished patent applications.

Get A Holistic View of Your Ideas, Patents, Key Performance Metrics of Your Innovators

The TIP Tool^TM allows you to stay on top of innovation efforts at your enterprise with the aid of intuitive dashboards.

• You can immediately learn about the IP creation efforts of your team. Find out which ideas are in the ideation, drafting, and filing stages.
• Ideas facing bottlenecks? Don’t worry. The TIP Tool^TM notifies if an idea needs immediate attention if it stays in the ideation and vetting stage longer than expected.
• To help you identify and reward promising inventors & managers, the TIP Tool^TM showcases which innovator has submitted maximum ideas or filed most patents.

Key Features

Access Account Using Magic Link-Based Login

The TIP Tool^TM reduces friction for innovators by relieving them of remembering one more password. A simple magic link-based login process allows users to access the tool whenever needed, without any password securely.

Filter Ideas Using Tags

The TIP Tool^TM enables users to add tags and later filter submitted ideas based on these tags. The tags can indicate particular product lines, technology, or any other grouping they deem appropriate.

Provide Role-Based Access

Are your inventors and managers aligned with their KPIs? The TIP Tool^TM allows users to keep track of their IP activity by providing role-specific dashboards.

View Patent Data as a Family Tree

The TIP Tool^TM lets you see the patent continuity data in tabular and visual formats.

Suitable Company Profile

Startups, individual inventors, small-to-medium sized enterprises, and patent practitioners greatly benefit from using the TIP Tool^TM.

Pricing

The TIP Tool^TM provides a free tier (forever). Its premium tier costs $50 per month and $495 per year. Triangle IP has you covered if you’re looking for a custom tier. Visit its pricing page.

Website

Visit Triangle IP’s website to explore the product.

Demo

The TIP Tool^TM offers a demo playground with pre-populated data to easily explore the tool’s functionalities. Sign up for an interactive product demo to experience the TIP Tool^TM’s features for yourself!

#2 – IPFolio

Introduction

IPFolio is an end-to-end IP lifecycle management solution. It connects with Clarivate’s market-leading data to make rapid and accurate decisions. Furthermore, this cloud-based solution allows you to manage IP operations from a centralized hub.

Key Features and Benefits

Collaborate Seamlessly With Inventors, Outside Counsel, and Other Stakeholders

IPFolio provides users with a connected ecosystem. In its Intellectual Property Portal, users can collaborate seamlessly with other inventors, outside counsel, and other stakeholders.

Automate Data Verification and Auto-Docketing

Users can work comfortably with access to cleaner, more reliable, and consistent data. IPFolio allows automated data verification and data enrichment along with seamless auto-docketing.

Configure Your Hub Flexibly

Every IP portfolio’s size and needs are unique and dynamic. IPFolio is flexible to configure to maintain centralized access to pertinent data.

Share Custom Reports and Dashboards

To improve analysis and collaboration with critical stakeholders, IPFolio allows the capability to share rich insights using custom reports and dashboards quickly and easily.

Receive Centralized Access to Documents

While organizing ideas, it is a given that you’ll deal with swathes of data. IPFolio allows centralized access to documents like inventions, patents, trademarks, domain names, and copyrights.

Access Industry-Leading Clarivate IP Data

You can rest assured that your IP data exposes you to minimal risks by accessing industry-leading Clarivate IP data.

Obtain Embedded Analytics and Data Visualizations

Analytics on your company’s IP Portfolio are an embedded part of the IPFolio experience. Users can derive insights using insightful data visualizations.

Suitable Company Profile

IPFolio is an appropriate option for corporate IP teams.

Pricing

You can contact the IPFolio team to learn more about pricing and demos.

Website

Visit IPFolio’s website to explore the product.

#3 – Decipher

Introduction

If your enterprise is looking to achieve its innovation potential, Decipher helps to streamline collaboration, increase innovation output, and improve overall invention disclosure quality.

Key Features and Benefits

Improve Idea Disclosure Workflow

Decipher allows users to submit their ideas using a simple workflow quickly. Users can also add designs, prior art, reviewer notes, and more.

Track Real-Time Idea Progress From Inception to Protection

Decipher also allows users to track progress at every point from inception to protection and identify bottlenecks. Additionally, teams can accurately track each change and decision for smarter innovation.

Improve Action Response Time

Decipher users also receive automated alerts for an improved patent office action response time.

Collaborate Seamlessly With Users

Decipher users can collaborate in-person or asynchronously. To comprehensively vet ideas, users can receive thorough input from all reviewers leading to higher quality.

Provide Role-Based Access

Decipher offers control permissions to new ideas while juggling increasing IP visibility across the enterprise.

Measure Performance Against Key Indicators

To measure your employees’ innovation activities, Decipher allows you to set key performance indicators and measure performance against them.

Manage Cost Control

IP management can make your expenses balloon significantly. In addition, Decipher enables users to determine what to patent, publish, or hold as trade secrets.

Suitable Company Profile

Decipher is ideal for companies looking to keep track of intellectual property and legal rights such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.

Pricing

You can contact the Innovation Asset Group, Inc. to get started on a free trial.

Website

Visit Decipher’s Invention Disclosure Management website to explore the product.

Idea Management Software Comparison Matrix

A Quick Wrap Up

In this piece we have provided in-depth information that helps you select an alternative for Anaqua’s ideaPoint.

Whether your business is a startup, a Fortune 500 enterprise, a corporate IP team, or whether you’re an individual inventor or patent practitioner, there is a suitable tool out there.

If you are a medium-sized enterprise, look for the following features:

• Access to an intuitive and customizable invention disclosure form
• Collaborate with stakeholders asynchronously and maintain live access to changes made to ideas
• Visualize the idea-to-protection track and IP activity at your enterprise using dashboards
• Obtain critical information around patenting estimating costs, and mission-critical patent analytics

About Us

The TIP Tool^TM by Triangle IP is an intuitive drag-and-drop tool that helps you manage the end-to-end IP lifecycle from ideas to patents. The tool underwent creation with the vision of democratization of patents. Usually, the patent process is not transparent, and many enterprises do not have enterprise-wide innovation capture systems and processes. The TIP Tool^TM is here to change that. With the TIP Tool^TM, anyone in the enterprise can submit and track the progress of their innovative ideas. The TIP Tool^TM also helps you manage your patent portfolios with deep learning to guide your patent strategy efficiently.

‘It’s not about ideas, it’s about making ideas happen’ – Scott Belsky

Getting invention disclosures to capture your innovation is the first step of the patent mining process. To ensure you receive enough disclosures, you need an intuitive disclosure system. One that inventors, R&D staff, and other stakeholders engage with effortlessly.

After talking to 100s of inventors, we found out that long and complex forms intimidate inventors and discourage them from completing the task. Hence, TriangleIP (TIP) has created a patent management software with an inventor-friendly invention disclosure form (IDF).

You can download the forms in both Microsoft Word and Excel format by simply filling up this form:

Quick Update: The inventors can upload this offline form back into the TIP Tool to have all their ideas in one place.

Putting the right foot forward for the patent program requires a simple and engaging IDF. We need to ensure that inventors capture innovation as part of their job to help us commercialize that inventive idea. TIP’s Invention Disclosure Form is driven by empathy towards inventors by being simple, engaging, and intuitive. 

Invention Disclosure Form Sample:

Here is an invention disclosure form sample. The first half of the invention disclosure sample, including the summary, can be filled by the inventor. The next half captures feedback from the manager and IP counsel on the invention.

The invention disclosure form provided at ‘TIP – Innovation Management Software’ requires the following information:

Idea Number:

Idea number is a unique tracking identifier for each idea submitted in the portfolio. The purpose is to ensure that ideas have their unique code or identifier.  This number may be determined by other software systems or the docketing system.

Title:

The purpose of the title is to briefly describe the invention. Example – “Improved System for detecting the position of other vehicles on the road”. It should be apparent what the ‘invention’ is all about from the title alone.

Inventor Email:

This field captures the contact information of all associated inventors to facilitate further communication.  The inventor need not be a current user of the TIP tool.  Adding their email address will give them access to the idea.

Manager Email:

This field captures the manager’s email address responsible for reviewing the inventor’s idea, approving the budget, or progressing the idea to a patent application. Every enterprise has its structure. The inventors have busy schedules, and patent protection might not be their priority. To ensure that the potential inventions receive patent protection, the managers need to push them forward. Any user of the TIP tool can be given manager rights by another manager or administrator.

Summary:

The summary field briefly describes the idea to help the manager or prosecutor understand the invention. The summary can include:

• The problem that prompted the idea or invention
• The technical solution to the problem that is the invention
• How the invention will be implemented (if figured out)
• The enhanced or novel features that don’t appear in competing products
• The advantages of their invention over prior solutions. 

Additionally, The Triangle IP allows attaching documents such as patent drafts, detailed working, and invention drawings.

Prosecutor Email:

This field captures the patent prosecutor’s email address responsible for drafting the application.

Value:

This field helps managers, and IP counsels rate the idea between 1 and 10, with 10 being the highest. It is a subjective value to the enterprise of a patent on a particular idea. The enterprise can assess the value of the invention based on its: 

• Usefulness
• Feasibility
• Commercialization potential 
• Alignment with enterprise’s business and policies

Tags:

The tags are to provide the searchable keywords for the idea. These tags help to filter and organize your portfolio. Quickly search for a particular technology or business vertical that was previously tagged.

Patentable:

This field reflects on the likelihood of the idea being issued a patent, between 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. The IP counsel assesses the idea’s patentability based on novelty and non-obviousness with respect to the prior art and the patent office’s receptiveness to this type of technology.

Filing Deadline:

This includes any filing goal that might be driven by publication, release, or offers for sale. In the case of commercially viable ideas, the enterprise can set its goals for the invention’s production, launch, and sale.

Let’s Sum it Up:

Presented above is a simple, engaging & inventor-friendly invention disclosure sample. It has all the necessary details for invention disclosures you must seek.

However, if your enterprise requires more fields in the IDF, the TIP innovation management software will soon offer customization. Your admin will be able to add custom fields to our simple innovation form to cater to their enterprises’ specific requirements.

Exciting Features Of TIP Tool –

• Simple capture with no intimidating fields
• The offline IDF will soon be readable back into the TIP tool
• Online collaboration and workflow with role-based control and security
• Allows for attaching additional documents to explain the idea or invention
• Links ideas and attachments to patent filings for later reference

Thomas Edison rightly said, “The value of an idea lies in the using of it.”

Give  TIP tool a try to capture innovations by your inventors.

Note: The preceding is general business advice and not to be construed as legal advice. IP laws vary by country and retaining licensed legal counsel is advised to confirm this information. Any expressed or implied opinions are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Triangle IP or any other entity who might be associated with the presenter. We hope this content is helpful to you, but should not be relied upon without confirming the advice and accuracy with local legal counsel. Any comments or inquiries are not confidential so please discuss your issues directly with counsel.

Before we dig in, up for a story? 

Nearly two decades ago, PepsiCo tasked its R&D department with finding a way to reduce sodium in the snack products they make while retaining the salty flavor customers want. As a result, they worked ’round the clock for years with little to show for it. While this was happening, someone in the marketing department who struggled with high blood pressure was trying a new, semi-experimental sodium alternative diet. While R&D was spinning its wheels, this marketing expert was enjoying the very thing innovators were looking for.

Eventually, a chance meeting in a break room delivered the breakthrough the snack researchers sought. They could have saved months of valuable time if their efforts and this real-world use-case could have crossed paths sooner. At the end of the day, this is a success story. The researchers may never have found their solution. Fortunately, they did. But we want to improve our innovation efforts by enhancing communication and collaboration within an enterprise. One way we do this is with the idea capture software that allows participation for everyone across the enterprise.

Sometimes the most innovative ideas come from the most unexpected places. As a result, some idea capture software optimize the chance that great ideas will find their way into new products and services. Here, we will discuss five of the best idea capture software.

Features to Look for in any Idea Capture Software

There are dozens of products in this category, making it difficult to zero down one. However, here are some essential features to look for when selecting an idea capture software.

1. Ease of Use

The best software is easy to use. Working to develop new ideas is difficult enough without the distraction of a sub-optimal graphical user interface (GUI). For instance, users should be able to drag and drop the ideas between different stages of progression. Or the stakeholders should be able to collaborate remotely yet in real-time. Or it should be easy for users to pull up ideas related to a particular technology, product, or campaign.

2. Simplicity of Idea Capture Form

Innovators should be able to submit their ideas in a short time without any friction. The idea capture forms should not have complex fields that innovators do not know how to fill. For instance, fields like prior art references are needed to take the idea forward on the patent track, but innovators might not be aware of what to fill in it. The idea capture form should enable the innovators to submit their notes, mind-map, and other work. 

3. Participation Options

Imagine if the marketing professional from the PepsiCo story had access to the notes of the product research team. The idea is to let anyone across the enterprise submit an innovative idea. However, review permission should stay restricted to managers, or patent filing information should be accessible only to the IP team and associated inventors. So, an idea capture software that offers role-based access shall be excellent.

4. Suitable Company Sizes

An idea capture software should match the size of your enterprise, and it should respond well to scaling. For instance, the number of users using the software is 40, but the software supports only 25, which could be a problem. So either the software should offer to customize the number of users, or you may want to pick another software.

5. Pricing

Software that offers a freemium model, i.e., limited features available for free and premium features available as a part of paid subscription, make a good choice. Free products are great, especially when they allow you to try a product before settling for a premium service. Different software offer different pricing tiers based on access to various features. A clear-cut pricing plan on the software website shall assist you in decision-making.

6. Patent Track or Development Track

Certain software, like the TIP tool, offer tracking ideas through the complete IP lifecycle, hence best suited for the patent track. However, other software like Viima may be better suited for the idea execution track, like taking the technology to market.

Five Best Idea Capture Software to look at in 2022

1. The TIP Tool by Triangle IP
2. Ideawake
3. Viima
4. IdeaScout
5. AcceptMission

1. The TIP Tool by Triangle IP

With simplified capture and management for frictionless innovation, Triangle IP’s TIP Tool puts you in control of the entire intellectual property management process, from ideas to patents. 

Ease of Use

The drag and drop design is simple and easy to understand, placing your ideas and notes within a single screen. It is impressive because it offers enterprise-wide usability and collaboration. 

The Simplicity of the Idea Capture Form

The TIP tool’s idea capture form is carefully designed to maximize engagement from innovators. The form asks for important information in a straightforward and up-front manner. You can even download its idea capture form for offline use in Word and Excel formats. The best part is that the filled forms are readable back into the tool. Furthermore, it’s also possible to customize the idea capture form offered by Triangle IP to suit your enterprise’s needs.

Participation Options

Participation is possible enterprise-wide, with no limitations on who you may authorize to interact with the ideas. 

Suitable Company Sizes

The TIP tool is best suited for medium-sized enterprises that file 25-50 patents annually. 

Pricing

Start with the free tier service level to give it a try, and upgrade when you are ready. The software is priced at 50 USD per month or 495 USD per year, which is pretty reasonable, isn’t it?

Patent Track or Execution Track

The TIP tool is designed with the patent track in mind. It helps you track ideas through different stages of the IP lifecycle like: 

1) Idea Capture 

2) Thorough Vetting 

3) Patent Filing and 

4) Patent Portfolio 

The software also offers patent analytics to help you understand how your patent case scores against other applications in the same art unit, with the same patent examiner, handled by the same patent counsel, etc. The cherry on the cake is that you can get end-to-end patenting cost estimations to plan your IP budgets wisely. 

2. Ideawake

Ideawake provides an easy-to-use, highly configurable platform that makes it easy to capture, evaluate, and take action on ideas from employees.

Ease of Use

Ideawake is easy-to-use with simple and intuitive interfaces. In addition, the platform allows enterprises to collect ideas to solve specific challenges.

The Simplicity of the Idea Capture Form

The idea capture form has just two fields – idea title and idea description. The form also facilitates adding attachments. The form is simple but doesn’t offer fields for tags, value, etc.

Participation Options

Any employee can be authorized to access Ideawake with a few limitations.

Suitable Company Sizes

Ideawake caters explicitly to Fortune 500 companies. As a result, it may be a suboptimal fit for smaller enterprises. 

Pricing

There is a free trial but no entirely free version. Basic service is $850 per month.

Patent Track or Execution Track

Ideawake is best for execution track use as it doesn’t offer patent-specific features like tracking ideas through IP lifecycle or patent analytics for taking IP decisions. 

3. Viima

Viima is one of the market’s most widely used idea capture software. Here is a thorough list of features that Viima offers.

Ease of Use

With its uniquely flexible interface, Viima can be very easy to use. In Viima, you can create different boards; each board represents a challenge to be solved with innovative ideas; it could also be for a hackathon. Moreover, Viima allows you to add specific people to each board from within or outside the enterprise, facilitating open innovation.

The Simplicity of the Idea Capture Form

The idea forms allow users to submit ideas anonymously. The fields in the idea form are title, description, category, tags, the problem it solves, business impact, the effort required, and more. Long forms might act as friction in capturing. 

Participation Options

Viima is open to employees, customers, or other parties interested in collaboration.

Suitable Company Sizes

This software package suits companies of any size with the right subscription service.

Pricing

The free version limits users to 10 participants. Viima’s subscription service costs between $6 and $1999 per month based on different tiers. 

Patent Track or Execution Track

Viima is also best suited for the execution track as it doesn’t offer any patent-related tracking or analytics.

4. IdeaScout

IdeaScout (Innography) enables companies to capture ideas,  facilitates easier collaboration between inventors and patent professionals, speeds up innovation, etc. IdeaScout also assists well in the journey of ideas to patents.

Ease of Use

IdeaScout scores decently on ease of use. It allows inventors to submit ideas specific to business/strategic gaps, technologies, and more. Interestingly IdeaScout enables automatic feedback on ideas from an intelligent agent to revise ideas for high-quality invention disclosures.

The Simplicity of the Idea Capture Form

As per this press release, inventors just need to email their ideas in the simple text to initiate the process.

Participation Options

IdeaScout facilitates open innovation with a global network of 18 million inventor profiles. People from within and outside the enterprise can participate in idea capturing, vetting, and more.

Suitable Company Sizes

IdeaScout is best suited for large enterprises.

Pricing

Not available publicly.

Patent Track or Execution Track

Best suited for the patent track.

5. AcceptMission

AcceptMission is an idea and innovation management platform. It facilitates idea capturing, online brainstorming, patent portfolio management, and more.

Ease of Use

Customers praise AcceptMission for its usability, but other platforms get higher marks in ease of use. In addition, some users have complained about glitchy interfaces.

The Simplicity of the Idea Capture Form

The idea capture form offered by Accept Mission is quite simple with limited fields. However, inventors need to submit ideas for specific challenges called missions.

Participation Options

AcceptMission makes cross-organizational participation easy. It’s an excellent software for remotely located teams to collaborate.

Suitable Company Sizes

This software suite is well suited for companies of all sizes, but smaller enterprises are likely to have the best results.

Pricing

There is a free trial and an option to book a 30-minute demo. Four pricing plans are available are: 

• Free
• Basic – € 4 per user per month
• Pro – € 5-6 per user per month
• Enterprise – custom pricing

Patent Track or Execution Track

AcceptMission supports execution track tasks well across all subscription levels, with some notable limitations in the free and basic plans. For optimal patent tracking support, AcceptMission recommends the Pro or Enterprise packages.

Parting Thoughts

As you can see, there are a lot of great products out there for you to choose one. But the best software is one that matches the size and the specific needs of your enterprise. 

The TIP Tool from Triangle IP is ideal if you are a medium-sized enterprise keen to systematize your patent process. The TIP tool is best suited for enterprises that file 25-50 patents a year as it provides actionable intelligence through patent analytics and patenting cost estimations. The TIP tool is also quite promising when you want to capture enterprise-wide innovation. We encourage you to explore more about the TIP tool by Triangle IP.