Idea Management Archives

Decoding U.S. Patent 10130701: The Breakthrough In Poultry Virus Control

Joshua Lederberg, a renowned geneticist and microbiologist, once highlighted the formidable challenge viruses pose to humanity by saying, “The single biggest threat to man’s continued dominance on the planet is the virus.”

This stark perspective is especially relevant to the discussion of U.S. Patent 10130701, which addresses the complex world of virology and vaccine development against the Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV), a coronavirus affecting poultry. This patent introduces a groundbreaking genetic modification to reduce the virus’s pathogenicity.

While the patent was initially misinterpreted as related to human coronaviruses, the patent’s true focus and innovation lie in advancing poultry health.

This article seeks to explore the nuances of this patent, underlining its crucial role in veterinary vaccine development and its broader implications in the realm of virology.

A Brief Overview of the U.S. Patent 10130701

U.S. Patent 10130701 pertains to a mutated form of avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), a coronavirus that affects poultry but not humans. This patent was issued on November 20, 2018, to the Pirbright Institute, a UK-based research organization specializing in preventing viral diseases in livestock. The mutations introduced in the virus were designed to weaken it, allowing it to be used as a vaccine to protect chickens from IBV. The patent does not relate to the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that affects humans.

Source- Science Direct

The patent outlines a method for creating such a virus, which includes transfecting a plasmid into a host cell, followed by infection with a recombining virus containing a coronavirus strain’s genome. The process allows for homologous recombination between the replicase gene sequences in the plasmid and the corresponding sequences in the recombining virus genome. This produces a modified replicase gene, leading to the development of a recombinant coronavirus with the altered replicase gene.

It’s important to note that the Pirbright Institute focuses on research on animal coronaviruses, primarily chickens, and does not work with human coronaviruses. The institute’s patented work on the avian coronavirus was not funded by the Gates Foundation, though the foundation does provide funding for the institute for other projects. The Gates Foundation is actively involved in combating diseases and has committed funds to help contain the spread of new coronaviruses, but this is unrelated to the patent in question.

Historical Context Of The U.S. Patent 10130701

U.S. Patent 10130701 is set against a backdrop of rapid advancements in poultry health research. This patent, outlining a novel form of coronavirus with a genetically modified replicase gene for reduced pathogenicity, is part of a larger effort to combat infectious diseases in animals.

Recent research in the field has explored various innovative strategies for improving poultry health and food safety. For instance, studies have focused on using natural compounds, bacteriophages, and nanoparticles to enhance immune responses in poultry and combat bacterial resistance, which is crucial for ensuring food safety and extending the shelf life of poultry products.

These efforts are essential in a global context where diseases like infectious bronchitis, targeted by the patent, pose significant economic and public health challenges. The patent’s focus on vaccine development for infectious bronchitis in poultry aligns with these broader research goals, highlighting its relevance in ongoing efforts to improve poultry health.

The Inventors Behind U.S. Patent 10130701

The inventors behind US Patent 1030701, Erica Bickerton, Sarah Keep, and Paul Britton, have made significant contributions to the field of virology, particularly in the study of coronaviruses.

Erica Bickerton, a molecular virology expert, stepped into the limelight in 2016 as an Institute Fellow and soon after, in 2018, took the helm of the Coronavirus group. Her battlefield: the infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), a formidable foe in the world of poultry farming. Bickerton’s mission has been to decode and tame this virus, a pursuit she’s undertaken alongside major players in veterinary pharmaceuticals and various bioscience research committees.

Paul Britton stands as her ally in innovation, contributing significantly to patents, particularly those crafting novel coronavirus proteins and vaccines aimed at infectious bronchitis. His research focuses on developing vaccines with broader efficacy, targeting diverse virus strains.

Completing this triumvirate is Sarah Keep, whose collaboration with Bickerton and Britton has led to the development of patents for live, attenuated coronaviruses. These specially engineered viruses, altered at key protein sites, are intended as vaccines to prevent diseases like infectious bronchitis.

The trio’s collaborative efforts, especially in developing live, attenuated coronaviruses and mutant spike proteins, represent a major stride in vaccine development for animal health. Their work stands at the forefront of efforts to control and prevent poultry diseases, an essential factor in maintaining global food security and animal welfare.

Current Relevance Of U.S. Patent 10130701

U.S. Patent 10130701, related to a coronavirus used in developing animal vaccines, has specific relevance in the current world health scenario in several ways:

Veterinary Health

The patent focuses on a coronavirus used in vaccine development, primarily targeting infectious diseases in animals, such as infectious bronchitis in birds. In the current global health context, where zoonotic diseases (diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans) are a significant concern, the relevance of such vaccines becomes even more critical.

For instance, the origin of HIV/AIDS is traced back to simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs), demonstrating the zoonotic nature of some of the most impactful human diseases. This highlights the necessity of vigilant monitoring and management of animal health to prevent future zoonotic transmissions.

Research and Development

The technology and methodologies involved in this patent can contribute to continuous research and development in the field of virology and immunology. Understanding the mechanisms of virus attenuation and vaccine development for animals can offer insights that may be applicable in broader contexts, including human health.

Global Pandemic Preparedness

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of rapid vaccine development and understanding coronavirus biology. While this patent is not directly related to SARS-CoV-2, the learnings from any coronavirus research, including those covered in this patent, can potentially inform strategies for dealing with future coronavirus outbreaks or pandemics.

One Health Approach

The ‘One Health‘ concept, actively recognizing the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health, is increasingly coming to the forefront. The patent aligns with this broader context as this approach extends beyond direct disease control in animals.

It encompasses a holistic view, acknowledging that enhancing animal health, as facilitated by this patent, indirectly contributes to the overall environmental health. This comprehensive perspective underlines the importance of integrated strategies in disease management and health promotion across all domains.

Ethical and Legal Discussions

The patent also contributes to ongoing ethical and legal discussions about patenting life forms and genetic material. These discussions are critical as they shape the policies and regulations that govern scientific research and its application in society.

Controversies And Implications Regarding U.S. Patent 10130701

U.S. Patent 10130701, while distinct from COVID-19, has sparked considerable controversy in the realm of virology. The crux of the debate centers not on its association with human coronaviruses but on the ethical and scientific implications of manipulating a coronavirus, in this case, the avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV).

Some speculations wrongly suggested the patent as evidence of the artificial creation of viruses, leading to a significant misunderstanding in public discourse. The controversy surrounding this patent underlines a critical aspect of virology research: the ethical considerations of virus manipulation for vaccine development. Patents in this field, like U.S. Patent 10130701, are often aimed at isolating genetic material or inducing mutations in viruses to facilitate research and vaccine production. However, the broader implications of such research, especially in light of public misinterpretations, raise questions about transparency and communication in scientific discoveries.

Transitioning to the legal landscape, a pivotal Supreme Court decision in 2012 reshaped the patenting practices in virology. This ruling clarified that genes and the information they encode cannot be patented merely on the basis of isolation. This decision has had a profound impact on how researchers and companies approach patenting in the field of virology, balancing the need to protect and incentivize innovation against the broader principles of accessibility and ethical research practices.

Public Perceptions And Views Regarding U.S. Patent 10130701

The public perception and views regarding the U.S. Patent 10130701 have been significantly influenced by misinformation and conspiracy theories, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Misinformation and Conspiracy Theories

Source- Dimsum Daily

Many public views on this patent have been shaped by incorrect claims circulating on social media. Some of these claims suggested that the patent was for a COVID-19 vaccine or even that COVID-19 was a manufactured disease. These claims have been debunked by multiple fact-checking organizations. For instance, Reuters conducted a fact-check which clarified that the Pirbright Institute’s patent was for a type of coronavirus found in poultry and pigs, and it had no connection with COVID-19. Such misinformation led to a public perception of the patent that was not aligned with its actual scientific and legal reality.

Public Distrust and Skepticism

The spread of misinformation about this patent has contributed to public distrust and skepticism, particularly toward pharmaceutical companies and research institutions. This is part of a broader trend where misinformation can fuel conspiracy theories and mistrust in scientific authorities. FactCheck.org highlighted that the theories regarding the patent were clearly bogus and that no vaccine for COVID-19 existed when these claims were made. This narrative can contribute to vaccine hesitancy and skepticism towards public health efforts.

Role of Social Media

Source: Buzzfeed News

The role of social media in spreading misinformation about this patent is significant. The ease with which unverified information can be shared and go viral contributes to the rapid spread of false narratives. This phenomenon underscores the challenges faced in managing public perceptions and the importance of critical thinking and fact-checking in the digital age.

Streamlining Patent Programs: How TriangleIP’s TIP Tool™ Makes It Easier?

It’s evident that this patent stands as a hallmark of innovation in the field of veterinary vaccine development, specifically targeting the Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV) in poultry. This groundbreaking work underscores the importance of intellectual property in safeguarding and capitalizing on such pioneering ideas.

However, navigating the complexities of capturing innovation enterprise-wide and patenting can be challenging, particularly for those who don’t have a systematic business process for mining patents. This is where a tool like the TIP Tool™ by TriangleIP becomes invaluable.

The TIP Tool™ enhances the process of patent mining in various ways:

It provides a streamlined pathway from the initial idea capture to securing patent protection and strategic patent portfolio management with data-driven insights at each stage.

Its inventor-friendly idea capture form for collecting ideas and role-based access aids in capturing innovation enterprise-wide without worrying about exposure to sensitive IP information.

The TIP Tool™ facilitates real-time collaboration amongst innovators, managers, patent counsel, and other members of the patent committee via a Google Doc-like interface within the tool for thorough vetting of ideas.

The tool also delivers extensive patent analytics, providing insights into patentability, predicted timelines, cost estimates, and up-to-date USPTO status tracking, aiding in informed patenting decisions. Presented below is a glimpse of what the predictions from the TIP Tool^TM look like:

Check Points	The TIP Tool™ Predictions About U.S. Patent 10130701	Actual Information About U.S. Patent 10130701
Average Allowance Time	3 years	Applied in 2017, Granted in 2018
Average Argument Rounds	1.7	Not Available
Average Allowance Rate	72%	100% (As it’s an issued patent)
End-To-End Parenting Cost Estimation	$40,280	Not Available
Art Unit	1762, 1731, 1648	Group Art Unit (GAU) 1648
Examiner Analytics	Li, Bao Q Avg. Allowance Rate – 81%Avg. Argument Rounds – 1.3Avg. Allowance Time – 2 Years	Li, Bao Q

The TIP Tool™ offers a comprehensive view of your idea, patent pipeline, and patent portfolio, focusing on ease of management and decision-making.

Streamline your patent program by registering on the TIP Tool™ today!

Strategies for Implementing Effective Innovation Pipeline Management

Innovation is a double-edged sword for business leaders: it’s both a top priority and a major challenge. Surprisingly, 70% to 90% of innovations don’t hit the mark.

What’s the secret to success for the rest?

Innovations that align with a company’s mission and benefit everyone involved – from customers to investors.

Google, with their “20% time” for brainstorming, Procter & Gamble’s meticulous idea evaluation process, Apple’s teamwork-driven innovation, and Amazon’s obsession with customer needs all nail this approach to systematic innovation pipeline management, ensuring a constant flow of fresh ideas and products.

However, there’s no one-size-fits-all in innovation.

The success lies in aligning your innovations with your business strategy, smartly allocating resources, managing risks, getting to market faster, meeting market demands, and keeping your team on board and excited.

This article throws light on how to best manage your innovation pipeline, from brainstorming to rollout, and introduces the TIP Tool™ – a game-changer in managing this process.

What is an Innovation Pipeline

A business’s success relies on a well-managed “Innovation Pipeline,” a concept that encapsulates the journey of ideas from inception to market.

Described in “Innovation Pipeline Management: Lessons Learned from the Federal Government and Private Sector,” this structured approach includes inputs, processes, and outputs, guiding organizations to develop and implement new ideas, products, services, or processes.

Effective management of the innovation pipeline is vital for identifying exceptional ideas, executing them, and swiftly introducing them to the market.

The 5i framework breaks down the innovation pipeline into five key stages.

Ideation: Brainstorm and research to generate viable ideas.
Invention: Turn ideas into tangible concepts through analysis, experimentation, and refinement.
Initiation: Develop a minimum viable product (MVP) for testing, involving modeling and prototyping.
Incubation: Transition projects to market-readiness using research, trials, and business plan adjustments.
Introduction: Successfully launch the product, focusing on market and user acceptance.

Source – 5I Innovation Pipeline

Each stage is integral and deserves equal attention to ensure the pipeline’s effectiveness.

However, it’s not just about progressing through these stages. The innovation pipeline should be integrated with the company’s innovation strategy to maximize growth.

While 84% of CEOs believe innovation is the key to growth, many don’t prioritize patent protection, which could offer a potential competitive advantage. Hence, it’s imperative to run a strategic IP(Intellectual Property) creation track alongside the innovation pipeline.

#1 – Ideation – Capturing Innovation Enterprise-Wide

Steve Stoute’s statement, “Great ideas can come from anywhere. There are no titles around an idea,” perfectly aligns with the creation of Sony’s PlayStation.

This innovation wasn’t the product of their R&D department but rather the vision of Ken Kutaragi, a junior staffer. Sony, initially hesitant due to its inexperience in gaming, was eventually swayed by Kutaragi’s determination, leading to a landmark partnership with Nintendo.

The PlayStation’s origin underscores the importance of capturing innovation across the enterprise. Well-curated innovation capture programs designed to incentivize innovators with recognition and rewards go a long way here.

These programs are intended to nurture and direct creative thinking, generate new solutions to problems, and uncover potential products, services, or processes.

Many enterprises have embraced employee innovation programs to cultivate a culture of innovation and provide staff with resources for their ideas. Some notable innovation programs include:

Adobe Kickbox: Adobe’s ‘Kickbox’ innovation program equips its employees with a toolkit to pitch new business ideas to stakeholders.

InGenius: Nestle’s ‘InGenius‘ program allows employees to propose ideas, which are evaluated by subject matter experts.

WeSolve: Bayer’s ‘WeSolve‘ platform employs coaches and ambassadors to educate and support employees in innovation. Bayer has also allocated 50,000 euros to support the program financially.

Ritz-Carlton: Ritz-Carlton hosts an annual Innovation Olympics, where employees compete to present the best innovative idea implemented company-wide.

In addition to innovation capture programs, consider implementing the following strategies to maintain a steady flow of ideas:

Culture Transformation and Awareness Building: Regular training sessions for inventors and IP teams can increase awareness about the benefits of invention capture.
Incentives and Acknowledgment: Motivate innovators with perks like bonuses, shoutouts, and spotlights in company newsletters. Add Patent Incentive programs to the mix to encourage employees and inventors to share and patent their creations, enhancing the company’s intellectual property portfolio.

Tools for Capturing Ideas: Use suggestion boxes, homegrown tools, or even better, use digital platforms like the TIP Tool™, which can help simplify the capture process.

The TIP Tool™ provides you with an Idea Capture Form that includes:

Invention Disclosure Form(IDF), designed to maximize engagement from innovators
Straightforward information request
Allow document attachment – for detailed idea representation.
Versatile – Offline use is available in Word and Excel.
Filled forms can be uploaded back into the tool.
Customizable to fit enterprise-specific needs.

It’s important to involve innovators in the patent process and nurture a culture of innovation if you want to capture and protect your enterprise’s innovations.

#2 – Invention – Vetting Processes for Innovation

Every idea has value, and it’s crucial to explore each one. As an innovation manager, you constantly weigh possibilities by asking, “Should we select this idea?” After all, not all innovation progresses beyond the brainstorming phase.

The vetting stage acts as a comprehensive checkpoint encompassing multiple steps enterprises employ to streamline the selection of ideas to be executed and given patent protection.

Stages of the Vetting Process

Idea Generation and Initial Screening: It’s crucial to encourage an environment where creativity is uninhibited. This is a preliminary filter to ensure resources are not expended on flawed concepts.
In-depth Analysis: This stage involves detailed market research, technical feasibility studies, and initial financial assessments.
Prototype Development and Testing: For ideas that show promise, a prototype or a minimal viable product is developed.
Final Evaluation and Approval: This is the culmination of the vetting process. The idea, now in its most concrete form, is subjected to a final evaluation.

The vetting process is the first step toward evaluating ideas. It includes ensuring that they align with strategic goals and assessing their feasibility.

There are various ways to evaluate ideas based on your business objectives. One of these methods is the NABC approach to idea evaluation, which venture capitalists use.

This systematic process involves four critical components that are assessed to determine the viability of business ideas.

Need: Identifying the critical needs of the target group through observation, surveys, interviews, and user tests.
Approach: Defining the project focus, solution, and process in relation to the target group’s needs, emphasizing unique aspects of the idea.
Benefits: Describing the positive effects and specific benefits of the project for users and clients, focusing on the uniqueness and competitive advantage.
Competition: Evaluating the idea’s advantages and distinctiveness compared to existing competitors.

This approach involves all key decision-makers and emphasizes unrestricted creativity, quantity of ideas over quality, and avoiding negativity in the idea generation phase.

Developing a manual system to sift through ideas, giving them the green light or the red flag, eats up precious time and requires a workforce. That’s where the TIP Tool™ steps in, making the vetting process a cakewalk.

It promotes real-time collaboration, streamlining idea evaluation for cost-effectiveness, patentability, market needs, feasibility, etc., ensuring their alignment with broad business goals.

The best part is that the tool’s interface for recording brainstorming over an idea is akin to Google Docs, keeping innovators, business teams, and patent attorneys consistently aligned and updated.

The essence of a successful vetting process lies in its ability to balance the scales of creativity and practicality.

Let’s take an example of how 3M’s strategy for picking winning ideas is rooted in its culture of constant innovation.

Innovation Hubs: These spaces brew up fresh, practical ideas. Scientists hit the field to get real-world insights, and customers come in to brainstorm. It’s a melting pot of thoughts from the team and the public.
The 15% Rule: Since 1948, employees have dedicated 15% of their work time to brainstorming. Iconic products like the Post-It notes came out of this creative freedom.
The 30/4 Speed Rule: To keep things moving, 3M aims for 30% of profits from products launched in the past four years. This keeps the innovation pedal to the metal.
Big on R&D: 3M pours over $1 billion into research and development yearly, about 6% of its sales. This heavy investment is well above the norm and fuels their product innovation engine.

Collectively, these strategies contribute to 3M’s reputation as a powerhouse in innovation and product development.

#3 – Initiation – From Idea to Implementation

The journey from a mere concept to a market-ready product or service is an intricate and varied adventure.

This transformative process is not just about having a groundbreaking idea; it’s about meticulously nurturing and developing that idea through a series of well-defined steps, ensuring its viability and market success.

Steps to Transform an Idea into a Viable Product or Service

Idea Generation: It all starts with an idea, often born from identifying a gap in the market or a personal need.
Feasibility Study: Assessing the idea’s practicality in terms of market needs, resources, and technological capabilities.
Prototyping: Creating a prototype is a tangible step towards bringing an idea to life, allowing for testing and refinement.
Market Testing: This involves getting feedback from potential users to understand the market’s response to the product.
Iterative Development: Based on feedback, the product undergoes several iterations to improve its design, functionality, and user experience.
Continuous Improvement: Post-launch, the product continuously improves based on user feedback and market trends.

Case Study: Dyson’s Vacuum Cleaners

To illustrate these steps, consider James Dyson’s journey. Frustrated by the inefficiency of traditional vacuum cleaners, Dyson embarked on a path of innovation.

After developing over 5,000 prototypes over five years, he introduced the G-Force cleaner, featuring groundbreaking cyclonic separation technology.

Despite initial market rejection, Dyson’s persistence paid off, and his vacuum cleaners eventually revolutionized the home appliance market.

James Dyson’s success with his revolutionary vacuum cleaners underscores the value of not only innovation but also the protection of these ideas. His story exemplifies why safeguarding inventions through patents is essential.

The TIP Tool™ embodies this principle by streamlining the patent acquisition process.

It offers actionable insights by harnessing data from millions of patent applications, like patentability score, expected allowance time, end-to-end patenting cost estimations, etc., which are crucial for shaping an effective patent prosecution strategy.

Moreover, it seamlessly integrates with the USPTO, offering instant updates and case tracking. This, in turn reduces your reliance on outside IP counsel.

This wealth of information positions the TIP Tool™ as an invaluable asset in navigating the complexities of patent management.

#4 – Incubation – Refining and Developing the Proposition

The incubation stage is where your project, be it a product, process, or business model, transitions from technically viable to commercially ready. It’s an intense, multi-step process that’s crucial for success.

Market Research: Dive deep into the market to identify potential customers, understand their needs, and size up the competition. The aim is to confirm there’s a real demand for innovation and hone in on the ideal customer base.

Staging Trials: After you’ve assessed the market, it’s time to test it. Try out your prototypes in controlled settings or with a small, select user group. This stage is all about spotting those early glitches and getting a genuine feel for your innovation’s performance.

Consider how Google approaches this. They often introduce beta versions to a limited audience first. Remember Gmail’s five-year beta phase? This allowed Google to refine and perfect based on real user feedback.

Gathering Lead Customer Feedback: Engage with early adopters to get their take. Their insights can spotlight what’s working, what’s not, and how to make the innovation even better. It’s all about tuning into the feedback of those who’ll benefit most.

Adapting the Proposition: Armed with fresh insights, it’s time to adjust. Maybe that means tweaking features, a redesign, or even a complete pivot. The aim? To better meet market needs. Just look at Netflix’s shift from DVDs to streaming. This pivot was a game-changer.

Fine Tuning the Business Plan: Update the business plan to reflect the refined proposition. Detail the strategy for hitting the market, setting the right price, choosing sales channels, and projecting finances. A solid plan is crucial for drawing in investors and partners.

Preparing for Scale: Think ahead about scaling up. Outline the logistics for manufacturing, distribution, marketing, and customer service.

The incubation stage is about refining and adjusting, setting the stage for a successful launch. If your proposition resonates and shows commercial promise, it’s ready to progress to the Introduction stage and make its market debut.

During this stage, it’s especially advisable for innovation managers to hang out with the innovators to identify patentable innovations, as innovators might undermine the IP potential of an idea.

#5 – Introduction – Market Venturing

Whether your enterprise decides to roll out a new internal process or unveil a product to the world, your aim is to secure the perfect launch spot and captivate your audience. It’s not just about entering the market; it’s about making a significant impact and demonstrating your idea’s viability.

As you transition from launch preparation to ongoing management, it’s helpful to remember that launching is just the beginning.

Now’s the time to closely monitor how your innovation pipeline performs and actively refine your approach. You’re not just aiming for a successful launch; you’re ensuring your innovation pipeline truly takes off and continues to ascend.

Measuring and Managing Innovation Pipeline Performance

Innovation is crucial for 79% of companies, yet it’s challenging for many C-suite executives to align these projects with their daily tasks.

Bridging this gap requires effective innovation pipeline management. Key to this management strategy is the strategic use of key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs act as guides, ensuring innovation aligns with both the daily grind and long-term goals.

Here’s a quick rundown of the essential KPIs across different categories:

Innovation Efficiency Metrics, like Idea Generation Rate and Time to Market, assess process speed and efficiency.
Innovation Effectiveness Metrics, examining outcomes such as the Idea-to-Launch Success Rate and Failure Rates.
Financial Impact Metrics, like Innovation ROI and R&D Spending as a Percentage of Sales, evaluate economic benefits.
Intellectual Property Metrics, tracking new idea output and protection.
Market and Customer Response Metrics, providing customer and market feedback.
Employee Engagement and Culture Metrics show internal innovation involvement.
Portfolio and Risk Management Metrics, balancing risk and opportunity in the innovation pipeline.

Managing these KPIs can be challenging. Here, tools like the TIP Tool™ become invaluable, particularly for IP-related metrics.

Tailored for enterprises, this tool provides a straightforward dashboard for R&D teams to track key innovation metrics easily.

A few clicks on the TIP Tool™ streamlines innovation management, aiding businesses in strategic decision-making for maximum impact and growth.

Overcoming Common Challenges in Innovation Pipeline Management

Innovation ranks high on the priority list for over 80% of executives, but fewer than 10% express satisfaction with their company’s innovation results.

It’s vital to have an effective innovation pipeline that ignites, evaluates, and introduces new ideas. Yet, this pipeline frequently presents numerous challenges.

Here are some common issues and their solutions.

1. Resource Allocation

Efficiently distributing resources like time, money, and staff between innovation projects and day-to-day operations is crucial.

Key strategies include prioritizing projects, managing resources flexibly, and forming cross-functional teams to optimize resource use.

2. Maintaining Momentum

It’s essential to propel the innovation process from brainstorming to execution without hitting the brakes.

To prevent this, setting clear milestones and deadlines, conducting regular progress checks, and motivating employees through engagement and incentives are effective approaches.

3. Aligning with Business Strategy

Aligning innovation with a company’s overall strategic goals is crucial to preventing wasted resources and maintaining the brand’s impact.

This importance is highlighted by a PwC study, which revealed that 77% of successful innovators align their innovation strategies closely with their business strategies.

Understand barriers, cultivate a culture of innovation, develop a diverse team, and measure success. Draw insights from triumphs and setbacks to propel organizational growth.

How the TIP Tool™ Can Be Instrumental in Innovation Pipeline Management?

Digital tools and platforms have emerged as game-changers in this regard, revolutionizing how organizations foster innovation.

Enter the TIP Tool™, a cutting-edge solution to elevate your innovation pipeline management.

Triangle IP, a frontrunner in patent management software, presents the TIP Tool™ as a user-friendly, drag-and-drop application that streamlines the capture of innovation across your entire enterprise while effectively managing the patent lifecycle.

Source – Triangle IP

Here’s a glimpse of what this innovative tool can do for your organization:

Patent Pipeline Management: Streamlines identification of bottlenecks, fine-tuning your patent prosecution strategy.
Invention Disclosure Forms: User-friendly forms designed to encourage engagement in your company’s innovation and patent incentive program.
Real-Time Collaboration: Similar to Google Docs, this feature unites innovators, patent attorneys, and business teams for enhanced teamwork.
Role-Based Dashboards: Provides customized access to intellectual property (IP) information and ideas tailored to different user roles.
Case Analytics: Delivers insights on the likelihood of patent approval.
Cost Predictions: Offers foresight into the long-term costs associated with patenting.
Automatic USPTO Updates: Keeps you informed, saving valuable attorney hours and reducing overhead.

The TIP Tool™ transforms how your team innovates. Give them a clear view of the impact of their ideas, boosting an innovation-focused culture.

Ready for a change? Try TIP Tool™ for free and see the tech-driven difference in your organization’s innovation journey.

U.S. Patent 4686605- Is It A Game Changer For Geoengineering?

Imagine a world where we can control the weather. This isn’t science fiction; it’s the groundbreaking idea behind U.S. Patent 4686605. Dubbed as one of the most audacious proposals in the realm of geoengineering, this patent outlines a method to alter atmospheric conditions.

What sets it apart is not just its bold, scientific premise but also the intense debate it has ignited.

Critics argue, as noted in articles from The Guardian, that meddling with the atmosphere could have unforeseen and potentially disastrous consequences. Proponents, on the other hand, point to the urgent need for innovative solutions to combat climate change, as discussed in a report by the International Monetary Fund.

This U.S. patent 4686605 sits at the heart of this debate, offering a glimpse into a future where human ingenuity might hold the key to environmental salvation or risk opening Pandora’s box of ecological challenges.

This article dives into the fascinating and controversial world of U.S. Patent 4686605. We’ll explore its unique approach to geoengineering, the science behind it, and why it has become a topic of heated discussion among experts.

From legal implications to ethical dilemmas, join us as we unravel the story of this patent and why it deserves your attention in the ongoing conversation about our planet’s future.

Let’s get started!

A Brief Overview Of U.S. Patent 4686605

U.S. Patent 4686605, titled “Method and apparatus for altering a region in the Earth’s atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere,” was granted on August 11, 1987, with the application filed on January 10, 1985. The inventor listed for this patent is Bernard J. Eastlund from Spring, Texas, and it was assigned to APTI, Inc., located in Los Angeles, California.

Source: US4686605A

This patent outlines a method and apparatus designed to modify specific atmospheric regions above Earth. Central to this technology is the use of electron cyclotron resonance heating, a process that amplifies the density of charged particles in a targeted area. This enhancement is achieved by directing circularly polarized electromagnetic waves upward, aligning them with Earth’s magnetic field lines.

One significant aspect of this patent is its ability to create plasma alterations in the ionosphere. By deploying sufficient power, such as 10^15 joules, it’s possible to confine the altered plasma between magnetic mirror points, allowing it to oscillate for prolonged durations. This capability opens up possibilities for communication modifications and other applications.

Historical Context Of The Patent

The historical context of U.S. Patent 4686605 can be traced back to the late 1950s. This journey began with the discovery of Earth’s naturally occurring belts of charged particles, or ions and electrons, situated in the upper layers of the atmosphere. These belts, trapped along the magnetic lines of Earth’s dipole magnetic field, sparked substantial research interest in their potential manipulation for beneficial purposes.

Innovators and researchers, particularly during the late 1950s and early 1960s, were driven by the Cold War era’s quest for technological supremacy. The United States and USSR, in their pursuit of understanding these atmospheric phenomena, conducted nuclear tests to generate and analyze artificial belts within Earth’s magnetosphere. This era of experimentation laid the foundation for future innovations in controlling and modifying space weather.

The methods proposed for altering these belts were revolutionary for their time. Innovations included the injection of charged particles from satellites and the release of ionized gasses like hydrogen from orbiting platforms. These early experiments aimed to understand and actively manipulate the space environment. The suggestion to release large barium clouds in the magnetosphere to increase plasma density and influence electron precipitation marked a significant shift in thinking – from observation to active intervention.

However, these initial approaches had a limitation: they required direct intervention in the magnetosphere. This constraint led to a pivot in the 1970s towards earth-based solutions. Innovators began experimenting with transmitting high-frequency electromagnetic radiation from ground-based antennas to modify the ionosphere. These experiments aimed to alter the ionosphere’s electron density and temperature, achieving significant results like enhanced airglow and changes in electron concentrations.

The heart of Patent 4686605, electron cyclotron resonance heating, builds on these pioneering efforts. Prior experiments, including those at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory with the Elmo Bumpy Torus, demonstrated the feasibility of producing and accelerating plasmas in diverging magnetic fields. These groundbreaking experiments not only paved the way for the patented technology but also exemplified the power of innovation in advancing our understanding and capabilities in geoengineering.

The Inventor Behind The Patent

Bernard J. Eastlund, the inventor of U.S. Patent 4686605, was an American physicist born in 1938 and passed away on December 12, 2007. He earned a B.S. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1960 and a Ph.D. in Physics from Columbia University in 1965.

Eastlund’s early career included a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University and a position at the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission’s fusion office. He was recognized for co-inventing “The Fusion Torch” and contributed a paper on this concept, which was awarded by the Atomic Energy Commission in 1970.

U.S. Patent 4686605 A, one of Eastlund’s most significant contributions, stands as a hallmark of innovation, with its roots tracing back to Nikola Tesla’s ideas. This notable Eastlund patent, already introduced earlier, bypasses the conventional and delves into the realm of large-scale atmospheric manipulation using electromagnetic radiation.

While the patent itself is a remarkable piece of scientific work, it’s the breadth of its potential applications and the surrounding controversies that truly set it apart.

The patent speculated on potential applications like:

Magnetotelluric surveys
Local weather modification
Missile defense

Eastlund later claimed that the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) was built using his patents, although this claim has been subject to controversy and skepticism.

Current Relevance And Applications

The current relevance of this U.S. patent 4686605 spans across science, development, and innovation, offering insights for innovators interested in the intersections of atmospheric science, space research, and technological advancement.

Atmospheric And Space Research

The patent’s focus on manipulating the ionosphere aligns with ongoing scientific interests in space weather, atmospheric phenomena, and climate studies. Understanding and potentially controlling aspects of the ionosphere could have implications for predicting and mitigating space weather events, which affect satellite operations and communication systems.

Climate Studies

Innovators in climate science might find the patent’s methodology relevant for studying the ionosphere’s role in Earth’s climate system and exploring potential geoengineering techniques.

Must Read: The US Patent 10130701, Breakthrough In Poultry Virus Control

Telecommunication Enhancements

The ability to alter the ionosphere could lead to advancements in long-range communication technologies, potentially improving radio signal propagation and satellite communications.

Defense And Surveillance

The patent’s technology may be applicable in national security contexts, particularly in developing advanced surveillance methods or in communications where atmospheric conditions play a crucial role.

Cross-Disciplinary Applications

The patent represents a convergence of physics, engineering, and environmental science, encouraging innovators to think multidisciplinarity.

Controversy And Implications Of The Patent

The controversy surrounding this patent primarily stems from its potential implications for weather control and modification. The patent’s technology can theoretically be used to heat specific regions in the atmosphere, leading to changes in atmospheric pressure and potentially influencing weather patterns. For instance, heating at least three specific locations in the atmosphere could create a low-pressure area, potentially leading to the formation of a storm. The extent of the weather perturbation depends on the amount of energy used and can take days to develop.

It’s important to note that while the patent outlines a method for altering atmospheric conditions, the actual application and effectiveness of such technology in large-scale weather control or modification remain subjects of debate and speculation. The patent does not directly claim to control the weather, but the techniques described have led to theories and concerns about its potential use in weather manipulation.

The linkage of U.S. Patent 4686605 A to the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) adds an intriguing layer to the discussions around this patent, especially considering Eastlund’s own claims that HAARP was developed using principles from his patents. This connection has sparked widespread speculation and debate, particularly regarding the potential impact of ionosphere heaters like HAARP (U.S.) and EISCAT (European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association, hosted by Germany, among other countries) on climate change.

Proponents of this perspective argue that the patent provides a theoretical framework for large-scale weather control or modification through the manipulation of the ionosphere, a concept that aligns with the operational objectives of HAARP.

However, it’s crucial to note that direct evidence substantiating the use of technologies like HAARP for large-scale weather control remains elusive and not conclusively established.

Intentions Vs. Public Perceptions Of The Patent

The inventor’s intention was to excite a region above the Earth’s surface by electron cyclotron resonance heating, thereby increasing its charged particle density. The patent suggests applications like altering atmospheric wind patterns, modifying solar absorption patterns, and artificially increasing concentrations of certain atmospheric molecules, such as ozone or nitrogen.

Source: Twitter

However, the public perception of this patent has significantly diverged from its stated intentions. Some believe the technology described in the patent is used for weather modification or as a climate control weapon. These perceptions are linked to conspiracy theories suggesting that projects like HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program) use technologies from this patent to manipulate the weather or even control minds.

Despite the mainstream media and government officials often labeling the idea of HAARP as a weather control mechanism, there have been instances where the topic was taken seriously in official settings. For example, during a Senate hearing, David Walker, the deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for science, technology, and engineering, acknowledged the existence of HAARP and discussed its potential applications. However, he also mentioned that the Air Force was moving from HAARP to other methods of managing the ionosphere, which HAARP was initially designed to do.

Given the nature of the patent and the technology it describes, public and consumer responses have been mixed, with a significant portion turning towards skepticism and concerns about its potential misuse. The debate around this patent exemplifies the fine line between scientific advancement and the ethical considerations of such technologies.

Secure Your Patent Today With TriangleIP TIP Tool™

Our exploration of U.S. Patent 4686605 illuminates the groundbreaking nature of innovation in geoengineering. This patent, stemming from decades of research and technological advancement, exemplifies the crucial role of intellectual property in protecting and leveraging such innovations.

However, capturing innovative ideas and securing patents can be a complex and daunting process, especially for those at the forefront of technological development. This is where the TriangleIP TIP Tool™ comes into play.

The TriangleIP TIP Tool™ helps in mining patents in the following ways:

It streamlines and simplifies the journey from ideation to patent protection.
It engages innovators with its user-friendly idea-capture form, ensuring that no spark of innovation goes unnoticed.

Source: TIP app

It provides comprehensive oversight of your patent pipeline and portfolio, offering a single-click overview that simplifies management and decision-making processes.
It facilitates real-time idea brainstorming, allowing seamless team interaction and innovation development.

U.S. Patent 4686605: Real-time Collaboration

Its role-based dashboards ensure controlled access to sensitive IP information, catering to different organizational needs.

It provides comprehensive patent analytics, enabling patentability assessments, allowance timeline predictions, cost estimates, and real-time USPTO status tracking for informed patent decisions.

Presenting a comparison table showcasing the TIP tool’s data predictions versus actual values for U.S. Patent 4686605, illustrating the tool’s precision and speed in forecasting patented ideas.

Check Points	The TIP Tool™ Predictions	Actual Information
Average Allowance Time	2 Years	Applied in 1985, Granted in 1987
Average Argument Rounds	1.3	Not available
Average Allowance Rate	84%	100% (As it’s an issued patent)
End-to-End Patenting Cost Estimation	$36,780	Not available
Art Unit	2881, 1713, 2844	Group A.U. 2746

The TIP Tool™ by TriangleIP not only helps protect your innovations but also elevates the entire patent mining process.

So, what are you waiting for? Embrace the future of patent management and safeguard your groundbreaking ideas.

Level up your patent process and join the ranks of innovative leaders by registering for the TIP Tool™ today.

20 Ways Of Using ChatGPT For Innovation

Since November 2022, ChatGPT has taken the world by storm. The platform has gained one million users in just five days of its launch. Fast forward to two months, ChatGPT’s monthly active user count crossed the 100 million mark.

Professionals from all over the world are using it for various things, from helping with coding to creating content and even writing emails. What’s really cool is that ChatGPT has potential use cases for innovators, too.

So, in this article, we’ll unveil 20 practical ways to leverage ChatGPT’s capabilities for your innovation projects, each accompanied by a sample prompt.

Let’s dive in!

Fostering Idea Generation & Brainstorming

Groundbreaking ideas often come from a mix of creative thinking and structured ideation. Integrating methods to develop a comprehensive innovation strategy can significantly enhance this process, ensuring a mix of creativity and structured planning. In the early stages, innovators look for new viewpoints, informed insights, and feedback on their ideas. ChatGPT helps by offering vast information, suggesting fresh ideas, and giving instant feedback to enhance them.

Here are some use cases of using ChatGPT for idea generation and brainstorming:

1. Idea Validation

Oftentimes, innovators have a spark of an idea but need to refine it. They can use ChatGPT to gauge an idea’s potential and gather market insights swiftly. By interacting with the AI, they can get immediate feedback, understand market trends, and assess risks, offering a quick and cost-effective way to test the viability of their concepts before diving deep.

Prompt: “Considering advancements in 3D printing, is there a market for customized home decor produced this way? How might consumer preferences align or clash with this idea?”

Source – ChatGPT

Source – ChatGPT

2. Brainstorming Companion

ChatGPT can act as a brainstorming partner, helping innovators expand on initial ideas, suggest alternative solutions, or introduce related concepts that might have yet to be considered. Engaging with this AI platform allows them to challenge, refine, and expand their concepts, ensuring a richer and more comprehensive ideation process.

Prompt: “Given the rapid growth of the smart home industry, what are potential household tasks or activities that haven’t been widely automated or enhanced with AI yet?”

Source – ChatGPT

3. Scenario Simulations

It’s essential to anticipate potential outcomes and user reactions before rolling out any innovations into real products. By presenting hypothetical scenarios to the AI, innovators can anticipate challenges, gauge reactions, and strategize solutions, providing a robust foundation for their innovative pursuits.

Prompt: “We are looking to create a subscription-based online learning platform. Simulate a scenario where a major competitor slashes their prices by half. How might this impact our subscriber growth, and what counter-strategies could we consider?”

Source – ChatGPT

Source – ChatGPT

4. Naming and Branding

A brand’s name and image play a crucial role in its market perception and success. ChatGPT can help brainstorm creative, relevant, and impactful names and branding strategies for products, services, or companies by feeding AI with brand values, target audience, and product specifics.

Prompt: “I am starting a vegan fast food chain. Brainstorm a brand name that captures the essence of fast, delicious, and 100% vegan offerings.”

Source – ChatGPT

Content Creation & Prototyping

After the idea validation and brainstorming phase, innovators seek to translate their abstract ideas into tangible forms or compelling narratives. Encouraging innovative thinking throughout the organization can further refine these initial representations. ChatGPT aids this process by generating creative content drafts, offering design feedback, and simulating user interactions with prototypes. With this AI-driven approach, innovators can ensure that their initial representations align closely with their vision while resonating with the target audience.

Some use cases of using ChatGPT for content creation and prototyping are:

5. Content & Pitch Drafting

Creating compelling content, whether a business proposal, marketing pitch, or product description, is an art. ChatGPT can assist in drafting, refining, and optimizing this content to resonate with specific audiences and generate better engagement.

Prompt: “We are starting an online mental health counseling service. Write a heartfelt mission statement for our platform that underscores the importance of accessible mental health resources and our dedication to connecting individuals with qualified professionals.’’

Source – ChatGPT

6. Creating Mockups or Narratives for New Products/Services

Before delving into full-fledged development or launch, creating mockups or compelling narratives can help visualize the end product and its value proposition. ChatGPT can guide innovators in developing these preliminary representations or stories, ensuring that the preliminary versions of their innovations are both engaging and illustrative.

Prompt: “Design a mockup of a wearable device focused on health monitoring and fall detection for seniors.’’

Source – ChatGPT

Source – ChatGPT

Source – ChatGPT

Now, weave a narrative that emphasizes the peace of mind it offers to both wearers and their families.

Source – ChatGPT

7. Business Plans

A comprehensive and compelling business plan is essential for startups and businesses seeking funding or defining their strategic direction. ChatGPT aids in structuring a comprehensive plan, ensuring key components like market analysis, strategies, and projections are well-articulated, setting a solid foundation for their innovative ventures.

Prompt: ‘’Outline a business plan for a mobile health clinic aiming to serve remote communities.

Source – ChatGPT

Source – ChatGPT

Source – ChatGPT

8. Revenue Models

Determining the most suitable revenue model is crucial for the financial success of any innovation. ChatGPT can provide insights into various revenue models, their pros and cons, and suggest the best fit based on the product or service specifics.

Prompt: ‘’Hi, what are the most common membership tier structures for co-working spaces, and how do they vary in terms of pricing and access?”

Source – ChatGPT

Source – ChatGPT

Market Analysis & Positioning

Innovators always aim to understand where their innovations fit within the broader landscape and how they can carve a distinctive niche. ChatGPT becomes a key ally in this phase, offering insights on current market dynamics, competitor benchmarks, and audience sentiments. With such data-driven guidance, innovators can strategically position their offerings to maximize reach and resonance.

Here are some use cases of using ChatGPT for market analysis and positioning:

9. Market Gap Identification

Identifying unserved needs or gaps in the market is essential to innovate effectively. Through the AI’s extensive knowledge base and real-time data interpretation, innovators can spot potential opportunities and areas ready for innovation, ensuring their solutions address genuine market demands.

Prompt: “With the growing trend of remote work, what tools, functionalities, or solutions seem to be lacking for companies and remote employees to optimize their productivity and well-being?”

Source – ChatGPT

Source – ChatGPT

10. Trend Forecasting

While it’s essential to address current needs, forward-thinking innovations anticipate future trends. ChatGPT can analyze past and present patterns to forecast future shifts, helping innovators stay ahead of the curve.

Prompt: “Given the current trajectory of VR tech, what genres or types of virtual experiences might become mainstream in the entertainment industry by 2025?”

Source – ChatGPT

Source – ChatGPT

11. Competitive Analysis

Understanding your competition is vital to understanding the strengths and weaknesses of rivals in your domain. By querying the ChatGPT on competitor strategies, product features, and market presence, innovators gain a holistic view, enabling them to differentiate their innovations and carve a unique market position.

Prompt: “Considering the digital coding education landscape, which platforms are most prominent? What features or strategies do they employ that sets them apart?”

Source – ChatGPT

Source – ChatGPT

12. Risk Assessment

Every innovation comes with potential risks. Identifying and understanding these risks early can be crucial for mitigation and planning. ChatGPT can assist in highlighting potential risks associated with a product, service, or business model and suggest strategies to address them.

Prompt: “Given the intricacies of autonomous vehicles, outline the potential technical and regulatory risks associated with launching a self-driving car rental business.”

Source – ChatGPT

Source –ChatGPT

13. Creating User Personas

For effective targeting, understanding your user is crucial. ChatGPT can assist in crafting detailed and varied user personas based on product specifications. By synthesizing demographic, psychographic, and behavioral data, ChatGPT aids in creating rich profiles that guide product development and marketing strategies, ensuring innovations resonate deeply with target users.

Prompt: “Considering the sustainable beauty market, can you help define a user persona for someone highly invested in eco-friendly cosmetic products?”

Source – ChatGPT

Source – ChatGPT

Networking & Collaboration

Innovators often seek to connect with like-minded individuals, gather insights from peers, or find potential collaborators to aid their innovation. ChatGPT serves as a bridge, suggesting networking opportunities, simulating collaboration scenarios, and providing insights on industry thought leaders. Through these AI-facilitated interactions, innovators can expand their horizons, drawing inspiration and forging valuable partnerships.

Here are some use cases of using ChatGPT for networking and collaboration:

14. Outreach Emails/Messages

Building relationships and collaborations can significantly propel an innovation forward. ChatGPT can craft impactful outreach emails and messages, aiming to engage potential collaborators or stakeholders. By inputting their objectives and target audience into the AI, innovators receive tailored communication drafts that enhance response rates, ensuring their networking efforts are both strategic and effective.

Prompt: “Given our focus on organic food logistics, can you help craft a compelling outreach message to invite key influencers for collaboration?”

Source –ChatGPT

15. Q and A Scenarios for Meetings and Pitches

Being prepared for questions during meetings or pitches is vital. ChatGPT can simulate potential questions stakeholders or investors might ask, allowing innovators to prepare and refine their answers. By giving the AI potential questions or concerns, innovators can also receive well-articulated responses, ensuring they can handle inquiries and objections confidently and clearly during live sessions.

Prompt: “Hi, we’re pitching our sustainable fashion brand to investors. What are the top questions they might ask regarding our sourcing, manufacturing process, and impact on the environment?

Source – ChatGPT

Source –ChatGPT

16. Interview Scripts

Conducting interviews requires a structured and compelling script, whether for user research, hiring, or media interactions. ChatGPT can assist in framing tailored interview questions, ensuring they are relevant, unbiased, and elicit the desired information or response.

Prompt: “Hi, we are creating a platform for remote team collaboration. We need interview questions to ask remote employees, team leads, managers, and executives that can help us understand the difficulties remote teams face, tools they currently use, and features they wish existed to enhance collaboration.”

Source – ChatGPT

Source – ChatGPT

Technical and Product Development

During this phase of innovation, innovators delve deep into the intricacies of turning concepts into substantial offerings. ChatGPT becomes an invaluable assistant here, offering guidance on technical specifications, product design, and optimization strategies. By tapping into the AI’s vast technical repository, innovators ensure their creations are innovative, feasible, and market-ready.

Here are some use cases of using ChatGPT for technical and product development:

17. Technical Code Assistance

For tech-driven innovations, coding challenges are frequent with innovators. ChatGPT can provide quick solutions to coding challenges and optimizations, recommend best practices, and even assist with debugging. This accelerates the development process and ensures their technical implementations are robust and efficient.

Prompt: “I’m looking to integrate a recommendation system in my fitness app that suggests workouts based on user preferences. Could you show me a simple Python implementation using sci-kit-learn?”

Source – ChatGPT

18. Prototype Feedback Collection

Feedback during the prototype phase can save enormous resources and time. Innovators use ChatGPT to gather feedback on their prototypes, simulating user interactions and extracting insights. By presenting their prototype details and desired user outcomes to the AI, they receive objective evaluations and potential improvement areas, ensuring that their final products are fine-tuned to meet user expectations and market needs.

Prompt: “We are developing a Personal Finance Chatbot. Given the chatbot’s ability to provide budgeting tips, expense tracking, and financial advice, what potential user pain points might arise, and how could they be addressed in our prototype?”

Source – ChatGPT

Source – ChatGPT

19. User-Centered Feedback

Getting feedback from the lens of potential users is invaluable. ChatGPT can provide an outsider’s perspective on usability, design considerations, and potential improvements of an innovation. This feedback loop ensures that products or solutions align closely with user preferences and real-world scenarios.

Prompt: “Hi, if you were a user relying on a smartwatch primarily for health tracking, what concerns or questions might you have about a new feature that predicts fatigue levels?”

Source – ChatGPT

Operational Efficiency & Process Optimization

Innovators strive to streamline operations and maximize the utility of resources when developing a new product/service. ChatGPT emerges as a pivotal tool in this endeavor, offering insights on workflow enhancements, task automation, and best practices.

Here’s a use case of ChatGPT for operational efficiency and process optimization

20. Workflow Analysis

Innovators leverage ChatGPT for workflow analysis to pinpoint inefficiencies and areas of improvement in their processes. The AI can provide insights into potential redundancies, optimization opportunities, and best practice recommendations, ensuring a streamlined and more productive operational flow.

Prompt: “We have an e-commerce business for handmade crafts. Detail a workflow streamlining our process for receiving custom orders on our platform.

Source – ChatGPT

ChatGPT and Innovators: A Partnership Redefining the Innovation Landscape!

Innovation is the driving force behind progress, and ChatGPT has proven itself as a vital tool for creative thinkers. Whether you’re brainstorming new ideas or analyzing markets, ChatGPT is versatile and ready to assist.

However, safeguarding these innovations is just as crucial. This is where the TIP Tool™ steps in, offering a robust solution for streamlined idea and patent management. With features like a centralized repository, patentability prediction, journey tracking, cost estimation, and patent portfolio overview, it empowers your innovation journey from start to finish.

Don’t just innovate; protect your innovations with the TIP Tool™. Learn more and start today.

Innovation Strategy: How To Develop One For Your Organization and Best Practices

Struggling with innovation? You’re in good company. Despite the widespread recognition of innovation’s significance for growth, a staggering 94% of global executives find their innovation efforts unsatisfactory.

If you resonate with this struggle, fear not—this article is tailored to your needs. We’ll delve into innovation strategies that can systematize and improve your approach.

Expect practical tips, real-world examples, and guidelines for success.We’ll also highlight best practices and common pitfalls.

Ready to fine-tune your innovation strategy? Let’s get started.

What Is an Innovation Strategy?

Quoting Harvard Business Review, an innovation strategy is described as:

“A coherent set of interdependent processes and structures that dictates how the company searches for novel problems and solutions, synthesizes ideas into a business concept and product designs, and selects which projects get funded.”

Innovation strategy tackles essential questions such as when to enter the market, which market to enter, why to enter, how to create value, and more.

Moreover, an innovation strategy outlines your purpose, goals, resource allocation, value creation, and the type of innovation that suits your company best.

Without an innovation strategy, a company is like a ship sailing without a compass—directionless and susceptible to drift. Even with effort and resources, the absence of a guiding strategy can result in wasted potential and missed opportunities, leaving the company vulnerable to falling behind competitors.

Just as a compass guides a ship, an innovation strategy steers a company toward sustainable growth and a competitive edge.

As we further our journey through innovation strategy, understanding the different forms of innovation can provide crucial insights.

Types of Innovation

There are four types of innovation based on technological advancement and market impact, as given below:

1. Incremental Innovation

Incremental innovation, as the name implies, involves making minor enhancements to existing products and services. It may not always grab the headlines since it lacks the excitement of groundbreaking developments, but it’s vital to virtually every organization’s operations.

As long as it delivers added value to the intended customer base, it qualifies as a form of innovation.

For large-scale enterprises, incremental innovation is akin to striking gold. Even the tiniest tweaks to their processes can yield substantial gains. Similar to how beverage companies constantly innovate in packaging, small innovations in IP management can lead to significant advancements, inspiring packaging innovation in the beverage industry.

Now, let’s delve into a specific approach to incremental innovation, exemplified by Google’s 70-20-10 rule. According to this principle, a whopping 70% of innovation efforts should be funneled into incremental enhancements, with 20% focusing on innovations that bolster the core and the remaining 10% earmarked for radical innovations that birth entirely new business ventures.

Additionally, consider MySQL’s journey in the early 2000s as a prime illustration. MySQL opted for incremental innovations, harnessing an existing codebase and introducing only the must-have features for their target audience. This savvy strategy enabled MySQL to navigate the fiercely competitive landscape of database management systems, culminating in its remarkable acquisition for $1 billion in 2008.

While the examples of Google and MySQL might seem old, the power of incremental innovation has not been reduced. For instance, Spotify continually refines its algorithms to personalize user experiences with incremental innovations. The company’s investment in understanding listening habits allows them to create features like ‘Discover Weekly,’ which keeps users engaged and improves satisfaction — a subtle yet powerful form of incremental innovation.

2. Sustaining Innovation

Sustaining innovation involves rolling out enhanced versions of your solution within an established market, primarily aimed at boosting profitability rather than expanding market share.

In the case of large corporations, they often pinpoint a specific customer segment and develop upgraded iterations of their solution tailored to their most valued clientele. This approach enables them to command higher profit margins for a “fresh” product, ultimately increasing profits.

Moreover, while incremental and sustaining innovations share similarities, the key distinction lies in their respective objectives. Incremental innovation primarily seeks to maintain user satisfaction among existing customers, whereas sustaining innovation concentrates on elevating or preserving market share and profitability through augmented margins and fresh sales opportunities.

Furthermore, incremental innovations typically involve fewer substantial updates than sustaining innovations.

For instance, the annual release of new MacBooks featuring enhanced processors, designs, displays, and more is a prime example of sustaining innovations. Conversely, incremental innovations encompass software updates, bug fixes, and minor feature enhancements.

3. Radical Innovation

Radical innovations are rare, once-in-a-generation breakthroughs that have the power to transform the world. To achieve such breakthroughs, developing a comprehensive innovation strategy is vital, as outlined in developing a robust innovation strategy for your organization. In everyday conversation, most people use the term ‘innovation’ to describe these game-changing advances.

These innovations leverage cutting-edge technologies to develop products that create entirely new demands in the market.

For instance, smartphones, televisions, washing machines, and the internet are all considered radical innovations, as they introduced new technologies and revolutionized how we address everyday challenges.

A more recent example is blockchain, which harnessed technology in a completely novel way, creating a new market valued at $11.2 billion. Apart from that, eCommerce platforms like Amazon and eBay utilized revolutionary technology (the internet) and a new business model to create a market valued at $16.6 trillion (yes, trillion with a ‘T’).

However, it’s important to note that pursuing radical innovations comes with significant levels of uncertainty and can consume a substantial amount of time and resources.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, believes that failure while innovating is normal, and innovators must embrace it. He says:

“You cannot invent and pioneer if you cannot accept failure. To invent, you need to experiment. If you know in advance that it’s going to work, it is not an experiment.”

Achieving a balance between these ambitious endeavors and other ongoing efforts is crucial.

4. Disruptive Innovation

Source: The Disruptive Innovation Model

Disruptive innovations leverage novel technology or business models to ‘disrupt’ the current market or carve out a new niche.

Initially, these disruptive products often target less profitable lower-end customers before rapidly expanding their reach to higher-end clientele. This strategy stands in contrast to established companies, which typically focus on sustaining innovations tailored to their most valuable customers.

Disruptors begin by capturing lower market segments and then ascend the ladder.

For instance, during QuickBooks’ introduction, it focused on serving small business owners, while more intricate accounting software catered to larger organizations. Despite offering only half the features, QuickBooks resonated with the lower segment, resulting in exponential growth and eventual dominance in the market.

Beyond these four types, there are several other forms of innovation worth exploring; you can find more details here.

Now that we’ve covered various types of innovation your organization could leverage. Let’s talk about the practical aspects of creating a strategy and utilizing popular frameworks to support this process.

How To Create and Execute an Innovation Strategy?

In this section, we’ll explore proven innovation frameworks. Use these insights to shape a tailored strategy for your organization.

Design Thinking

Design thinking is a user-centric method of coming up with innovative solutions. It places full focus on the user’s needs and how you can develop desirable, feasible, and viable solutions. Observing users’ actions and building solutions accordingly is the central idea behind design thinking.

The framework has four components:

Clarify: Identify your target user’s problems by monitoring product usage, conducting interviews, researching, etc. Create a problem statement using the HMW (How Might We) framework to maximize the opportunity for brainstorming.
Ideate: Find possible solutions to the problem statement defined previously. You can come up with multiple ideas for different problems. The key is to allow people to express their wildest ideas.
Develop: Create prototypes as soon as possible and discard ideas or solutions that don’t fulfill the user’s needs.
Implement: Deploy your solution to your users and share the results with your stakeholders. Continue iterating according to user feedback.

Source: Stages of Design Thinking

An illustrative example of design thinking in action is Airbnb’s initiative to enhance customer conversion rates. Facing the problem of low-quality photos hindering bookings, Airbnb applied the ‘Clarify’ stage by identifying the issue. In the ‘Ideate’ stage, they brainstormed solutions by empathizing with customers, realizing that clear pictures mattered most.

For the ‘Develop’ stage, they creatively addressed the problem: taking high-quality photos themselves. The positive results exemplify the success of this seemingly simple solution, representing the ‘Implement’ stage. This iterative approach helped Airbnb not only improve customer experience but also increase their earnings significantly.

Lean Startup

Introduced by Eric Ries, the Lean Startup framework emphasizes the importance of getting an MVP (minimum viable product) out to test your assumptions.

It uses the ‘Build-Measure-Learn’ feedback loop, which works in the following way:

Hypothesize: Create a problem statement or a hypothesis you wish to test.

Build: Build an MVP that contains only the bare essentials required to fulfill the need.

Measure: Gather data to challenge your assumptions. Is the product viable? Do users like it? Does it fulfill their needs effectively?

Learn: Based on the data gathered, choose whether to pivot or continue in the same direction.

The lean startup method excels in unexplored markets where risks are manageable. Zappos, for instance, applied this methodology when launching its online retail store. They started with a basic e-commerce website, iteratively testing pricing models and experimenting with marketing strategies. This allowed rapid customer base expansion without heavy time or financial commitments in development and marketing.

Stage-Gate Process

The stage-gate process reduces risk in the innovation process by setting ‘gates’ to review progress and assess that you’re on the right track.

It’s an excellent tool for filtering ideas and focusing your resources on the best ones.

As seen in the image, there’s a gate after every important part of the innovation process. For example, one to judge the idea’s quality, another to identify the scope, feasibility, business case, and so on.

The stage-gate process is used heavily in high-risk industries like pharmaceuticals and aerospace to minimize resource wastage.

Blue Ocean Strategy

It’s a popular innovation framework that focuses on creating and dominating “blue oceans” or new markets.

The two main components of this strategy are the ‘Four Actions Framework’ and the ‘Strategy Canvas.’ Here’s a breakdown of each of them:

The Strategy Canvas: Plot the value curves of existing companies. For example, this is the value curve of the wine market in the US before the introduction of Casella Wines:

Innovation Strategy: Blue Ocean Strategy

Source: Blue Ocean Strategy

Here are the four components of the Four Actions Framework:

Eliminate: Factors in the existing market that you must eliminate
Raise: Factors that you must raise above the standard
Create: New factors that you should create to add value
Reduce: Factors that you should reduce

This is how Casella Wines created a new curve using the Four Actions Framework:

Source: Yellow Tail

There’s also the 6 PATH framework to identify and create blue oceans.

Jobs To Be Done

Clayton Christensen, in his book “Competing Against Luck”, suggested that JTBD is a theory–not a framework–that helps you understand the ‘job’ that a person ‘hires’ a product/service for. It enables you to go past stats and understand the story behind the purchase.

Focusing on jobs rather than just the functional aspect of the product helps you come up with innovative solutions for problems you didn’t even know existed.

You must conduct interviews to build a ‘job spec’ that contains the functional, social, and emotional dimensions that define desired progress, the tradeoffs, competing solutions, obstacles and anxieties, etc.

With the frameworks out of the way, let’s go over some actionable steps you can use to create an innovation strategy for your organization:

Step 1. Establish the ‘Why’ and Innovation Objectives

Every strategy starts by answering ‘why.’ Be it your business strategy, marketing strategy, or price strategy.

In this case, you must answer why your company wants to innovate and how it ties into the larger business plan.

After that, you need to establish your objectives for innovation. Here are a few questions you can ask to clarify them:

What is the desired outcome: increased market share, revenue growth, customer satisfaction, etc?
Who is the target audience and beneficiary of our product?
Quantifiable goals
How will innovation differentiate us from our competition

These questions will help you identify the scope of your innovation strategy, too: Will it be limited to sustainable/incremental innovations to grow the core business, or will it focus more on disruptive/radical innovations to expand into other markets?

Step 2. Identify Problems in Your Industry

The next part of your innovation strategy is finding the problems you aim to solve.

The key to this step is running insightful customer interviews that uncover why people use certain products. Remember, your interviews should lead to stories, not stats.

You can create a ‘job spec’ as outlined in the JTBD theory to help you find why people use a product. It contains the following information:

Functional, emotional, and social dimensions that define the user’s desired progress
Tradeoffs the customer is willing to make
Competing solutions that you must beat
Obstacles and anxieties that the customer must overcome

You can also use the Four Actions framework discussed previously to find new market segments.

Also, conduct a competitive analysis to find gaps your innovations can fill.

Step 3. Resource Allocation

A balanced allocation of resources will help you achieve a good ROI on your innovation investment.

Research shows that 70% of investment in the core business, 20% in adjacent enterprises, and 10% in transformational innovations work best.

However, you can change it to suit your ambition and the company’s needs. Early-stage companies invest more in transformative/disruptive technologies, while market leaders might focus on their core business.

The major resources you need are talented individuals, cash, time, and equipment.

Step 4. Brainstorming Solutions

Your strategy should contain a general idea of your methodology to develop solutions. It will help streamline the process and make it scalable.

Design Thinking and Lean Startup are two popular frameworks we’ve discussed for that.

Both of them emphasize one idea: iteration. You must understand the problem, develop an MVP/prototype as soon as possible, and get it out in the market to test your assumptions.

While lean startup focuses on the data side, design thinking is more concerned with empathizing with users and satisfying them.

The best approach would be to integrate elements from both frameworks to suit your organization’s goals and needs.

Step 5. Building Scalable Systems

Scaling innovation is the key to sustaining your market position. For that, you need proper systems in place.

First, you must achieve executive buy-in and encourage them to include innovation in all strategic planning, budgeting, and resource allocation initiatives. You can only innovate at scale when your company’s culture encourages and doesn’t treat it like a side thought.

Second, you can implement a crowdsourcing system to get potential ideas from employees, customers, stakeholders, etc.

And finally, you can implement the stage-gate process to filter through these ideas and focus your resources on the most impactful ones.

Must Read: 20 Ways of Using ChatGPT for Innovation

Common Pitfalls While Developing an Innovation Strategy

We’ve talked about frameworks, tools, and steps to implement an innovation strategy, but let’s explore some pitfalls you must avoid falling into while doing so.

Pitfall #1: Weak Market Research

Innovation revolves around solving problems people care about. If you conduct inadequate market research, you could end up:

Wasting resources on a bad idea
Wasting resources on the right idea but for the wrong people
Getting left behind by competition

That’s why conducting solid customer interviews, market assessments, and competitive analysis is essential. You must also share these insights with everyone in the process to avoid failure.

Pitfall #2: Strategic Misalignment

According to a PwC study, 77% of successful innovators said their innovation strategy was closely aligned with their business strategy.

The opposite was also true: companies with strategic misalignment are not doing too great on the innovation scale.

The problem with strategic misalignment is that it disconnects innovation from the rest of the business and makes it a task you do for the sake of it. It also leads to innovation becoming an afterthought, which can never lead to breakthroughs sustainably.

Pitfall #3: Limited Diversity

The two most important things fueling innovation are talent and perspective. You can’t innovate without the correct set of people who express unique, contrarian viewpoints.

Many companies make similar types of people work on innovative ideas, which usually doesn’t end well. Diversity in ideas leads to disruptive insights.

Thus, you must hire and allocate talent accordingly.

Must Read: Strategies for Implementing Effective Innovation Pipeline Management

How the TIP Tool^TM Fuels Innovation Culture

Triangle IP is one of the leading providers of patent management software. It allows you to capture and track the progress of innovative ideas throughout your organization.

The TIP Tool^TMboosts your organization’s innovation culture and innovator engagement by providing visibility to people, allowing them to realize the impact of their ideas.

Some of its features are:

Ideas and patent pipeline management platform to identify bottlenecks and calibrate patent prosecution strategy
Simple and intuitive Invention disclosure forms to capture ideas and boost participation in your company’s innovation and patent program
Real-time collaboration like Google Docs within the tool to bring innovators, patent attorneys and business teams together
Case analytics and the probability of it being approved
Cost predictions to estimate the cost of a patent over years
Automatic USPTO updates to save you expensive attorney hours

Start a free trial to try out the TIP tool for your organization today!

10 Game-Changing Examples of Intrapreneurship Programs Driving Innovation in Leading Organizations

Gmail, Google News, and Google Adsense exist thanks to Google’s 20% intrapreneurship program. Employees got the time and resources to make these apps a reality. Without this freedom, these innovations wouldn’t be in our lives today.

Like Google, other top companies get it. They’re boosting innovation by nurturing intrapreneurs. These trailblazers get dedicated programs to flex their entrepreneurial muscles.

Why should you care? Research shows intrapreneurship ramps up innovation, agility, and profits. This article dives into 10 programs changing the game for employees and companies alike.

UQBATE by Deutsche Telekom

UQBATE is a 3-month intrapreneurship accelerator program by Deutsche Telekom, focusing on transforming employee ideas into viable projects.

Source – Telekom

The journey kicks off with the Initial Design Phase. Here, participants think freely about their ideas, join meetups to get feedback and learn the art of pitching their innovations. Once they have a solid idea, they can apply for the next big step: the Acceleration Scholarship.

If their idea is chosen, they move to the Scholarship stage. This phase includes rigorous lean startup training, bootcamps, and regular coaching sessions. Additionally, participants engage in weekly team reviews and attend insightful lectures on various aspects of business growth.

At the end of the journey, teams showcase their work at UQBATE DEMODAY, held at Telekom’s headquarters.

The program is structured but flexible. Each year sees two batches, with 6-9 teams each, all equipped with a suite of tools like business model canvases, idea development guides, and market research tools.

Importantly, Telekom champions entrepreneurial freedom; any startup born from UQBATE allows the entrepreneur to hold 100% of the shares initially. Telekom may choose to invest later if there’s mutual synergy.

With 400 ideas tested and standout projects like the Zuqi platform and MyComoda virtual wardrobe, UQBATE has not only generated revenue but has also spotlighted the deep well of entrepreneurial talent within Telekom.

Also read – How Can You Increase Engagement with Innovators in the Enterprise?

Bizlab by Airbus

Airbus BizLab stands as a beacon for both budding entrepreneurs and intrapreneurial projects within Airbus.

Source – Airbus

Under this program, startups are ushered into a rigorous six-month acceleration journey. Within this phase, they are mentored by a diverse team of international experts, given enriching networking opportunities and provided with vivid co-working spaces.

The criteria for the selection of startups in the Bizlab program depends on Airbus goals. They pick ones that align with the Airbus mission—be it emission reduction, robotics, artificial intelligence, or any of their other specified sectors.

Since 2015, Airbus BizLab’s illustrious track record boasts the acceleration of 72 startups and 54 internal projects, bringing in a total of €23.5 million. With four global campuses stationed in Toulouse, Hamburg, Bangalore, and Madrid, it truly offers a global network to its employees.

And the best part? Airbus doesn’t take a share in these startups or put its money into them. This means the startups can grow freely. In short, Airbus BizLab is like a school for new ideas, helping them grow and succeed.

Also read – How can you Shortlist and Select Promising Ideas for Patent?

EDF Luminus Internal Innovation Incubator #NEXT

EDF Luminus has taken a bold step forward in promoting internal innovation. Through their ‘# NEXT’ incubator program, they’ve established a unique collaboration with ‘Start it @KBC’, Belgium’s largest startup hub. For an intensive three months, selected EDF Luminus teams step away from their usual roles and dive into a realm of innovation and exploration.

Source – Start It X

What makes this program stand out is the immersive experience it offers. Participants are integrated into the vibrant ecosystem of ‘Start it @KBC’, where they have access to a diverse network of industry experts and get a personal mentor who’s already a successful entrepreneur.

In addition to this, the teams from EDF Luminus have the privilege of using co-working spaces spread across six distinct locations that give them an opportunity to meet professionals from diverse fields like law, tech, and marketing.

Additionally, the program is enriched with an array of workshops. These sessions are designed to help participants refine their ideas, master the nuances of pitching, and ensure that their innovative concepts are positioned for success.

With the #NEXT incubator, EDF Luminus is making innovation a big part of their company, building a place where great ideas grow and shine.

Also check out – Invention Disclosure Form Word/Excel Template [Downloadable].

Kickbox at Swisscom

Swisscom’s Kickbox isn’t just another innovation program—it’s an innovative space where employees’ dreams meet reality. Open 365 days a year, Kickbox is dedicated to nurturing Swisscom talents, providing them with the tools, time, and resources to translate their brilliant ideas into actionable business models.

Source – Swisscom

There are three stages involved throughout this program:

RedBox – The Idea Genesis: Over two months, participants dedicate 20% of their working hours to validating and testing the potential of their ideas. They are given an initial fund of CHF 1,000, with which they aim to convince Swisscom experts of their business idea.

BlueBox – Bringing Ideas to Life: Once a dedicated sponsor is onboard, kickboxers test their pilots with real-life customers, making the most of Kickbox’s robust resources. Spanning 4-6 months and still occupying 20% of their work time, this phase is where concepts are fine-tuned, ensuring they resonate with end-users.

GoldBox – Scaling Heights: Proving their potential in the earlier stages, kickboxers now have the exciting opportunity to scale their idea, be it within a dedicated department, as a standalone project, or even as a spin-off. Here, their commitment can range from 20% to a full 100% of their working time.

Throughout these stages, the real essence of Kickbox is the culture of feedback and collaboration. Kickboxers share thoughts, get real-time feedback, and polish their pitches. They learn valuable skills like presenting and taking charge of their ideas.

The program has turned over 700 employee ideas into real projects. Plus, it’s led to 40 other new solutions. At Kickbox, it’s not just about great ideas but also about growing together as a team.

Entrepreneurial Immersion and Secondment program by HUL

With their Entrepreneurial Immersion and Secondment Program, Hindustan Lever is giving some of their middle-tier employees a chance to step into the fast-paced world of startups.

Source – Economic Times

The program can last as short as three months or as long as two years. Participants get to work with young, dynamic startups linked to Unilever Ventures. If an employee joins a startup for less than a year, HUL covers the bills. If it’s longer, the startup helps with the costs. In this longer option, the employee will join the startup team, but they can come back to a new job at HUL later.

Mostly, employees with 7-12 years of experience get this chance. Last year, 10 startups got a golden ticket to HUL’s resources, and in return, HUL learned about the latest tech and innovative strategies these startups are using.

Must Read: Innovation Strategy: How To Develop One For Your Organization and Best Practices

People’sLab4Good by BNP Parihas

Since its launch in 2018, BNP Paribas’ People’sLab4Good has been on a mission to bring employees’ business ideas to life, turning them into projects ready for real-world application. Till date, the program has trained 87 dedicated intrapreneurs across five batches.

These enthusiastic participants undergo specialized training in startup methods focused on social and community-driven outcomes.

Intrapreneurship Programs #5 - People'sLab4Good by BNP Parihas

Source – BNP Parihas

The driving force behind People’sLab4Good works on three main objectives:

Personal Transformation: Encouraging employees to contribute to a just economy.
Business for Good: Accelerating business models that bring about tangible good in society.
Enhancing Employer Branding: Making BNP Paribas an even more attractive place to work.

Aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the intrapreneurial ventures mainly cater to promoting education, ensuring equal opportunities, safeguarding the environment, and enhancing microfinance and entrepreneurial support.

About one-third of the projects under this program are integrated into BNP Paribas’ main business offerings. Retaining its core strengths—exploratory design thinking, a test & learn approach, and robust ecosystem networking—People’sLab4Good eagerly awaits new applications each year, enabling more employees to think outside the box and make a change.

Also read – Employee Innovation Program: Best Practices to Implement it in Your Organization.

Delivery Service Partner Program at Amazon

Amazon is reshaping the path to entrepreneurship with its “Delivery Service Partner Program” in the US.

Source – CNBC

Recognizing the potential within its workforce, the retail giant is offering employees the chance to transition from their current roles and embark on a journey of owning and running a package delivery business.

The beauty of this program lies in its comprehensive support structure. The company offers financial help by covering startup costs of up to $10,000. Plus, to help new business owners get on their feet, Amazon will match three months of the employee’s last salary.

But the support doesn’t stop there. Those who join this program will get continuous delivery volume, cutting-edge delivery technology, hands-on training, and even branded assets like customized vans and uniforms from Amazon.

Since its inception in 2018, the program has already birthed over 200 new small businesses in the U.S. And, in testament to its success and global vision, Amazon is extending this opportunity to its employees in the UK and Spain as well.

For those eyeing entrepreneurial pursuits, Amazon is not just offering a job change but a life change.

Also read – 7 Key Benefits an Idea Management Software Provides to a Business.

In-Genius at Nestle

Nestlé’s very own internal innovation accelerator, In-Genius, is turning the untapped potential of over 300,000 global employees into game-changing solutions. With the aid of a crowdsourcing platform, Nestlé employees get the chance to voice their creative ideas, gather valuable feedback, and even form collaborative teams.

Source – Nestle

The most popular ideas get scrutinized by experts, fine-tuned for business potential, and then fast-tracked through an incubation phase. With InGenius, the company ensures the creation of a minimum viable product in as short as 3-6 months.

Since 2014, InGenius has been a roaring success. The platform has seen a massive engagement of 65,000 employees from 110 countries, bringing forth over 7,000 innovative ideas. Among the many breakthroughs, 14 cutting-edge solutions have been developed, ranging from high-tech ventures with artificial intelligence and virtual reality to impactful creations like low-cost water sensors.

Also read – 22 Tips to Master the 5 Skills of Disruptive Innovators.

Grow by Bosch

Grow is an internal incubator program of Bosch for budding startups and entrepreneurs right inside the organization. The program’s journey is structured like an adventure, with each phase designed to equip participants with essential skills.

Source – Bosch

First, there’s ‘Safari,’ an introductory workshop for Bosch employees, offering them insights into the startup world and the lean startup methodology. Next in line is ‘Expedition,’ a rigorous 2.5-day program where selected teams tweak their ideas with expert coaching. The best teams then go to the ‘Discovery’ stage, a 10-week accelerator program where they work hard on their ideas and finally present them for incubation funding.

Over the past five years, Grow’s nurturing environment in Ludwigsburg has seen 8 teams embark on this transformative journey. They’re provided with workshops on entrepreneurship, business modeling, and user experience, all in a bid to mold them into high-performing entities.

The success stories of this intrapreneurship program are evident. Two teams from the 2014 batch, one focused on robotics for logistics and another on IoT in agriculture, have integrated back into Bosch, scaling their business ideas, while others, like UrbanMates, have even made their mark on the open market.

Chemovator, the Corporate Incubator at BASF

BASF, in 2018, established its corporate intrapreneurship program named “Chemovator” to enable BASF’s employees to transform their innovative ideas into real projects.

Source – BASF

The process of the Chemovator program is meticulous. If any employee has an idea, they can team up with two or three other people. Together, they get advice from experts outside of BASF. There’s also a main team at Chemovator that helps with everything else, so these groups can focus just on their new idea. The whole program lasts two years, and at any time, they can have up to 12 of these teams working on different ideas.

To decide which ideas get a chance in this program, they have special pitch days. It’s like a show-and-tell for grown-ups where they present their ideas.

The efficacy of Chemovator’s efforts is evident. In April, Chemovator proudly announced its premier corporate spin-out, BOXLAB Services GmbH. Over the past five years, BASF workers have shared over 200 ideas. 30 of those got a chance in the program.

Some of these ideas went back to the main BASF company, while others became their own separate companies. Right now, eight teams are busy working on their ideas in the Chemovator program.

Also read – 7 ways to Encourage Innovative Thinking at Your Workplace.

Ready to jumpstart your Intrapreneurship journey?

The above examples have showcased the power of intrapreneurship and how a strategic approach is required to implement a successful intrapreneurship program in your organization. Here are some actionable steps to take the plunge:

Define the purpose and goals of the program,
Set aside a budget,
Plan for training and development,
Create a platform or system where employees can submit their ideas and
Regularly solicit feedback from participants to understand what’s working and what needs improvement.

Intrapreneurship programs can lead to innovative ideas that are patent-worthy. But before you put those ideas into action, consider safeguarding them. Patents can offer that essential protection.

The TIP Tool™ by Triangle IP streamlines the process. It’s a user-friendly, drag-and-drop tool that helps turn ideas into patents while keeping track of each step.

Interested in securing your team’s innovations? Register on the TIP Tool^TM today to get started!

5 Must-Explore Alternatives to Planview IdeaPlace in 2024

Planview IdeaPlace (formerly known as Spigit innovation management software), with a 4-star rating, has gained widespread adoption among over 500 enterprises globally.

The tool’s patented algorithm aims to remove bias and subjectivity from the idea selection process – by leveraging user predictions regarding the potential costs, implementation time, and revenue generation associated with ideas.

Planview IdeaPlace also incorporates gamification elements such as game mechanics, virtual currency, and customizable incentives to increase employee engagement.

However, despite its widespread popularity, some innovation managers look for IdeaPlace alternatives for their enterprise’s unique needs.

In this article, we present five alternatives to Planview IdeaPlace, helping you make an informed decision when selecting the most suitable online idea and patent management platform for your enterprise.

However, first, let’s discuss what to look for in an alternative.

Features and Benefits to Look for in Planview IdeaPlace Alternatives in 2023

In your quest to find a suitable alternative to Planview IdeaPlace, it’s imperative to look for the following features and benefits to ensure a seamless transition.

Effective Patent Mining

The tool should offer an inventor-friendly and customizable idea disclosure form, promoting active engagement with innovators while streamlining the idea submission process. In this light, the importance of a comprehensive evaluation of idea management tools becomes evident, ensuring they meet these critical criteria.

Additionally, it should facilitate real-time collaboration among subject matter experts to ensure the thorough vetting of ideas to select only the promising ideas for patenting.

The tool should enhance innovator engagement by providing timely notifications as ideas transition through various phases, such as evaluation, patent drafting, and patent filing.

Furthermore, the tool should provide role-specific dashboards empowering all stakeholders to stay aligned with their KPIs and IP goals as an enterprise.

Patent Analytics Powered Decision Making

The tool must predict the likelihood of allowance and patenting cost estimations besides examiner, patent counsel, and art unit analytics based on historical trends to assist in effective decision-making.

The tool must diligently monitor case health, issuing alerts for cases that require immediate attention, such as those taking longer than expected for prosecution. This allows the patent committee to implement corrective actions as needed.

Quick User Onboarding

The tool should provide an intuitive drag-and-drop feature that enables users to move their ideas through various stages, from idea capture, vetting, patent drafting and filing.

It should also have a product helpdesk to assist users with prompt responses – enhancing user experience.

Staying on Top of Enterprise’s Patenting Efforts

The tool should offer role-specific dashboards that provide a comprehensive overview of ideas submitted, inventor activity, manager activity, filed applications, and patent pipelines. Effective patent filing strategies are integral to managing this comprehensive overview.

Users should be able to efficiently tag patentable ideas with specific keywords, facilitating quick filtering for selecting ideas to patent within the current quarter.

Additionally, the tool should simplify tracking metrics like the number of idea submissions and filed patents per innovator, enabling it to identify the top-performing inventors and managers within your enterprise.

Planview IdeaPlace Alternatives to Checkout in 2023

The TIP Tool^TMby Triangle IP is an idea and patent management software powered by patent analytics that helps businesses manage their growing IP portfolio. While planbox is an AI-powered innovation platform that helps teams collect, develop, and manage ideas from stakeholders.

Furthermore, Sideways6 is good at driving employee engagement and innovation through its idea management software and services. IdeaBridge® provides strategic innovation consulting, helping businesses develop and implement innovative solutions for growth.

And Ideawake excels in crowdsourced innovation, leveraging the collective intelligence of employees and customers to drive innovation.

Each alternative offers key differentiators to help you select the one that best suits your enterprise’s needs. Let’s dig deeper to explore each alternative comprehensively, beginning with the TIP Tool^TM by Triangle IP.

Planview IdeaPlace Alternative #1: The TIP Tool^TM by Triangle IP

The TIP Tool™, an intuitive drag-and-drop platform, facilitates effective enterprise-wide innovation capture and patent mining. Leveraging patent analytics aids in informed IP decision-making. Users particularly appreciate its role-specific dashboards and ability to enable real-time collaboration.

Source – Triangle IP

Key Benefits of Using The TIP Tool^TM by Triangle IP

The TIP Tool^TM by Triangle IP is an extremely affordable alternative to Planview Ideaplace looking at the numerous benefits it offers. Moreover, the team is open to custom development for your specific requirements.

Streamlined Idea Management

Many enterprises struggle to keep innovators engaged and their innovation funnels full. To solve these challenges, the TIP Tool™ offers:

A user-friendly invention disclosure form engages innovators across the enterprise – be it front-line employees or the R&D department.
A customizable idea submission form, enabling unique field additions, edits, deletions, or concealments as per enterprises needs.
Secure, enterprise-wide participation in innovation management, safeguarding IP-related data.
Capability to tag ideas with technology-related keywords, product categories, or business functions for easy filtering.
An option for innovators to attach supplementary materials like documents or slide decks to better represent their ideas.
Innovators are notified as their ideas progress through different stages for greater engagement.
Real-time collaboration, just like Google documents, for thorough vetting of ideas.

Selection of the Most Promising Ideas for Patenting

Innovation teams and subject matter experts often face challenges when collaborating and communicating effectively in real-time – especially when working remotely.

The TIP Tool^TM addresses these challenges by facilitating real-time collaboration, just like Google Docs, with features such as commenting, tracking edits, etc.

The tool also helps you keep track of modifications with version history, allowing easy visualization of changes and the ability to revert specific alterations.

By empowering your team with the right collaboration tools, the TIP Tool^TM enables thorough vetting of ideas, helping you to select the most promising ones for patenting.

Also, check this video where Thomas Franklin, founder of Triangle IP, shares How to determine if your idea qualifies for a patent or a trademark or other legal protection?

Patent Analytics Powered Prosecution Strategy

Most patent applicants find the patent prosecution process opaque, heavily relying on their patent attorney’s expertise and chance for success. However, the TIP Tool™ offers valuable data and insights on the patent counsel and examiner linked to an applicant’s case.

Furthermore, the TIP Tool™ allows for comparisons with similar cases within the same art unit, under identical examiners, or represented by the same patent counsel.

This tool lets applicants to closely track their patent application’s journey throughout the prosecution process, providing enhanced visibility and control.

The insights garnered from the tool can inform decision-making and guide the next steps with their patent counsel.

The TIP Tool^TM also enables applicants to get end-to-end patenting cost estimates by considering statistics such as expected rounds of arguments.

Here’s a quick video that explains how the TIP Tool^TM can help you improve your patent prosecution efficiency.

Informative Dashboards

Innovation managers struggle to keep track of idea and patent pipelines. Additionally, identifying which innovator is working on which idea has been a daunting task for them.

Nonetheless, the TIP Tool^TM’s user-friendly dashboard provides a comprehensive overview of an enterprise’s idea and patent pipeline.

The tool helps innovation managers to monitor the progress of their team’s activities, including the number of ideas submitted and patents filed.

By using the TIP Tool^TM, managers can also identify potential roadblocks, such as ideas lingering in the ideation and vetting stages for too long.

The tool offers role-specific dashboards – enabling inventors and managers to track their intellectual property (IP) activity and align it with their key performance indicators (KPIs).

Such information helps streamline innovation management, helps in collaboration, and enables enterprises to identify and reward their most promising inventors and managers.

Patent Family Tree Generator

Patent lawyers or paralegals must read a patent’s priority claims and manually construct a family tree – this process is time-consuming and prone to errors.

However, the TIP Tool^TM’s patent family tree generator helps users to generate two visualizations for patent family trees – Traditional and Gantt Chart.

Traditional Patent Family Tree Visualization

Traditional patent family tree visualization uses arrows to illustrate relationships between parent and child patents, depicting connections from parents to a selected patent and extending from the selected patent to its offspring.

Gantt Chart Style Patent Family Tree Visualization

A Gantt chart visually represents the relationships between applications using colored bars.

Each bar represents a separate application, indicating the priority date, filing date, pendency period, issue date, and time overlap. Colors differentiate application phases, while bar length indicates patent expiration and pending application expiration if issued.

Such visualizations make it exceptionally easy and intuitive for patent attorneys to view all patent family members that are public, US-based, and non-US-based family members and the patent family members from the private PAIR.

Affordable Pricing and Custom Tier

The TIP Tool^TM offers a range of attractive packages, including free, paid, and custom options, catering to diverse needs.

The free package allows up to ten users to experience the basic features. While the paid package is for 100 users maximum – it unlocks advanced functionalities for $50 per month or $495 per year. And the custom package offers tailored solutions to meet specific requirements.

The TIP Tool™ Helpdesk

If you encounter any issue while using the TIP Tool™, there is a product helpdesk for quick assistance. It’s well-documented with intuitive search options.

Freemium Model

Evaluating ideas and patent management software based on marketing materials alone can be challenging. Triangle IP’s TIP Tool™ offers a free plan for up to 10 users to mitigate this, allowing potential customers to experience its functionalities.

Furthermore, it incorporates a sample patent portfolio, facilitating a seamless exploration of the tool’s capabilities.

Customer Review

A review in G2 highlights the TIP Tool^TM as highly user-friendly. The customer praised its drag-and-drop feature for effortless idea movement between stages. Additionally, the simple and intuitive idea form facilitates easy completion for innovators.

Source – G2

Also, read – Hype Innovation Alternatives You Must Try in 2023 (+ Reviews)

Planview IdeaPlace Alternative #2: Sideways6

Designed for large enterprises with 1,000 employees or more, Sideways6 is an innovation and idea management platform that facilitates sourcing and managing employee ideas.

Sideways6 integrates with popular platforms like Microsoft Teams, Yammer, Workplace, and Slack to enhance the idea generation and collaboration process within companies.

Source – Sideways6

Key Benefits of Using Sideways6

Customers love using Sideways6 because of its integrated approach, time-saving features, ease of use, and tangible results. Here are some of the key benefits worth noting:

Streamlines idea submission for employees by seamlessly integrating with their regularly used software solutions, such as Microsoft Teams, Yammer, Workplace from Facebook, and Slack.
Helps you identify the most promising ideas by allocating and sending ideas to relevant in-house experts for review.
Keeps everyone informed throughout every stage of the innovation journey, resulting in more motivated innovators.
Enables you to measure the success of your innovation initiatives. By identifying key trends, understanding the business impact of ideas, and creating custom reports, you can effectively showcase the return on investment (ROI) and make data-driven decisions to drive continuous improvement.

Customer Reviews

Here’s a review screenshot highlighting how Sideways6 enables 16,000+ employees to contribute, driving enterprise-wide innovation and collaboration. To read more such reviews, click here.

Pricing

It’s free for up to 10 users. Teams with more than 10 users (11 – 500 users) can avail the service for $3 per user per month.

Large companies can inquire about custom pricing by contacting the sales team at Sideways6 for further information.

Also, Read – 5 Best Free Idea Sharing Platforms to Try in 2023

Planview IdeaPlace Alternative #3:IdeaBridge®

IdeaBridge, with its expertise in crowdsourcing and open innovation, is the go-to platform for global enterprises aiming to invent new products and services, manage costs, and elevate employee engagement.

Source – IdeaBridge

Key Benefits of Using IdeaBridge®

Customers prefer IdeaBridge due to its array of features that facilitate the effortless management of employee ideas. These features include a user-friendly interface, seamless integration with existing collaboration tools, and efficient idea management capabilities.

Let’s delve into some important benefits that are worth exploring:

Enables you to effectively predict the return on investment (ROI) by quantifying the revenue, cost, and timeline of ideas.
Helps you leverage hackathons to bring together employees and teams with diverse skills and expertise, enabling collaborative problem-solving to overcome challenges.
Helps you to maximize productivity with customized designs that effortlessly align with your internal processes, enabling highly configurable workflows.
Empower your enterprise to redefine custom workflows, tailoring them to suit your enterprise needs and streamlining operations for enhanced productivity.

Customer Reviews

Here’s a screenshot of a review showcasing the IdeaBridge® ability to create custom workflows effortlessly. To read more such reviews, click here.

Pricing

Pricing is unavailable-contact Ideabridge for more details.

Also, read – Top 3 Brightidea Alternatives You Must Know in 2023

Planview IdeaPlace Alternative #4: Ideawake

Ideawake is an idea management software that enables businesses to create challenges, outline specific goals, gather ideas from employees, customers, and suppliers, and drive innovation in areas identified for innovation.

Source – Ideawake

Key Benefits of Using Ideawake

Customers appreciate Ideawake for its user-friendly interface. Ideawake’s features, such as discussion threads, idea ranking, voting features, project tracking features, key metrics, and participation, save enterprises valuable time and eliminate any obstacles that may hinder the idea submission process.

Let’s explore a range of notable benefits worth delving into:

Ideawake empowers users to create customized scorecards, evaluating ideas against custom criteria aligned with business objectives.
Ideawake enables users to gain valuable business insights through an analytics dashboard, offering graphical reports on employee engagement, innovation health, and other vital metrics.
Utilize Ideawake’s collaboration tools, like real-time chat, file sharing, crowd voting, and assigned user groups, to benefit from enhanced teamwork.
Helps you to motivate participants by leveraging Ideawake’s gamification tools, such as leaderboards.

Customer Reviews

According to customers, Ideawake fosters enhanced collaboration among teams, fueling creativity and facilitating the generation of more innovative ideas within the enterprise. Here’s a screenshot of one such review

Pricing

Ideawake pricing plans are not displayed publicly. However, you can contact them here to enquire about it.

Also, read – IPFolio Competitors and Alternatives: Choosing the Best Patent Management Software for Medium-Sized Enterprises

Planbox

Planbox, an innovation management software, creates an ecosystem for crowdsourcing ideas, aligning with corporate strategy, and streamlining the workflow process for evaluation, development, prioritization, and implementation.

Source – Planbox

Key Benefits of Using Planbox

Customers love using Planbox because of its innovation ecosystem, efficient agile innovation management, and advanced idea management capabilities. These features greatly assist enterprises in generating and fine-tuning ideas, effective communication of challenges and opportunities, and enhanced management of their innovation activities.

Let’s explore a range of notable benefits worth delving into:

Planbox uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to help users search for information from different places, both inside and outside an enterprise, and use that information to create new and interesting ideas without needing a person to do it manually.
Planbox provides a simple yet effective dashboard with graphs, progress assets, and scoreboards, allowing users to see the latest activity quickly.
Planbox’s built-in gamification system helps boost participation rates while providing recognition and rewards, validating individual efforts.
Helps you to discover and develop winning ideas with Planbox’s integrated opportunity and problem discovery methodology.

Customer Reviews

Customers appreciate Planbox’s visual dashboards, offering real-time project updates. Here’s a review showcasing the appreciation.

Pricing

Planbox has not disclosed its pricing plans publicly. Contact them here for details.

Also, read – Top 5 IdeaScale Alternatives You Must Know in 2022

The TIP Tool^TM – A Promising Planview IdeaPlace Alternative

When finding an alternative to Planview IdeaPlace, the good news is you can’t go wrong with any of the above listed idea management software options. They are the best in the industry.

However, the best way to get to know the ones that seem appealing is to take advantage of their free trials.

While larger enterprises can benefit from several of the Planview IdeaPlace alternatives mentioned above, when it comes to startups, enterprises, individual inventors, and patent practitioners, the optimal solution for managing idea and patent portfolios is undoubtedly the TIP Tool™ by Triangle IP.

Take patent mining to the next level at your enterprise with the TIP Tool™.

Click here to try it for free.

5 Best Viima Alternatives to Try for Idea and Patent Management in 2024

With a 4.9-star rating on Capterra, Viima is a widely used idea management software – that offers both SMEs and large enterprises to collect ideas from different stakeholders.

However, if your requirements extend beyond capturing ideas, such as patenting, you’ll need a more comprehensive solution that addresses a wider range of needs. A critical aspect of this is understanding the role of innovation management software in both idea capture and patent management.

Before we dig into the list of alternatives, let’s look at the must-have features of the alternative solution.

Features and Benefits to Look For in Viima Alternatives in 2023

When exploring alternatives to Viima, it is crucial to clearly understand the essential features and benefits that a valuable idea management tool should possess.

Streamlined Idea and Patent Management

The tool must streamline innovation capture throughout the entire enterprise. It should ensure comprehensive scrutiny of ideas and foster a cohesive platform where all stakeholders – including inventors, managers, subject matter experts, patent counsel, and business teams – can collaborate effectively. Additionally, it should facilitate patent tracking while maintaining vigilance over patent portfolios and more.

Role Specific Dashboards

The tool must offer role-specific dashboards for monitoring innovation-related activities, catering to the needs of various stakeholders. Specifically:

Inventors can utilize this feature to observe the progression of their innovation efforts and ideas through different stages. This feature aligns well with employee innovation programs, encouraging active participation and tracking of ideas within a company.
Managers can use their custom dashboards to stay aligned with their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Innovation officers can keep abreast of idea and patent pipelines, and identify promising inventors and managers.
Patent counsel can leverage this tool to manage diverse client portfolios with ease.

Informed Patenting Decisions

The tool must make certain predictions to help innovation officers make informed patenting decisions, for instance:

Likelihood of allowance
End-to-end patenting cost estimations
Alerts on a case that is deviating from expected progress.

Leveraging patent analytics for better returns is essential in this predictive process.

Patent Family Tree Generator

The tool must generate intuitive visual representations of patent family trees, incorporating traditional and Gantt chart styles. This capability enhances the assessment of the robustness of any patent portfolio – whether it’s your own or a competitor’s – particularly about specific products or technologies.

Well Curated Offerings

The software should offer a free trial plan for evaluating its features. It should also include adaptable premium plans available monthly or yearly. The software should provide custom pricing solutions for larger enterprises with unique needs to cater to their specific user base.

Viima Alternatives to Checkout in 2023

Different innovation officers have diverse needs. While some may seek alternatives to Viima for patent tracking capabilities, others might prioritize facilitating open innovation. There might also be a preference for gamification features or patent analytics among some.

Recognizing these varying requirements, we’ve compiled a list of the top 5 tools, each with its unique offerings, to simplify your selection process:

The TIP Tool^TM by Triangle IP
Wazoku
Aha!
Miro
Idea Drop

Viima Alternative #1: The TIP Tool^TM by Triangle IP

The TIP Tool^TM is an intuitive drag-and-drop tool to facilitate enterprise-wide innovation capture & manage end-to-end IP life cycle for effective mining of patents.

Source – Triangle IP

Key Benefits Offered by the TIP Tool^TM

The TIP Tool™ by Triangle IP emerges as a robust alternative to Viima, particularly for enterprises aiming to systematize their patent mining processes. Users often commend its role-specific dashboards and its capacity for fostering real-time collaboration, among other numerous advantageous features.

#1 – Capture Ideas Enterprise-Wide

In many companies, the ideation stage is often overlooked within the innovation funnel because of companies’ instinctive desire to explore untapped markets.

However, this inclination is outdated – because innovative ideas can originate from anyone within the enterprise.

To foster a culture of idea sharing, the TIP Tool™ offers an idea submission platform that all employees can access throughout your enterprise.

The tool enables your entire enterprise to participate in the patent mining process while prioritizing the confidentiality of your intellectual property (IP) data.

#2 – Boost Engagement with Innovators

The TIP Tool^TM encourages participation from innovators by using a short idea-capture form.

The tool allows downloading the idea-capture form in Word and Excel formats, which can be seamlessly imported back once they fill out the form.

Users can customize the forms to align with their enterprise’s specific requirements – such as modifying fields and adding or removing information.

Innovators can easily monitor the patenting process, including idea-capture, vetting, patent drafting, and filing, and share their views inside the dashboard.

Idea Submission From TIP Tool - Triangle IP - Brightidea Alternatives

Also, check this video where Thomas Franklin, founder of Triangle IP, shares how to make innovators fill the invention disclosure forms?

#3 – Drag-And-Drop Ideas With Ease Across Different Stages

The TIP Tool^TM’s intuitive drag-and-drop feature allows users to seamlessly move ideas between stages (idea capture, internal vetting, patent drafting, and filing), keeping all stakeholders informed of updates and changes.

#4 – Filter Ideas Based on Tags

The TIP Tool^TM’s tag-based filtering allows users to categorize and sift through ideas using specific tags or keywords. These tags relate to technologies, business units, project stages, or other relevant themes. Users can efficiently review and manage ideas by filtering for specific tags, enabling targeted evaluation of ideas based on their relevance to a particular interest or responsibility.

#5 – Collaborate in Real-Time for Thorough Idea Vetting

The TIP Tool^TM empowers your team members and subject matter experts to collaborate effectively, just as they would in person.

Similar to working with Google Docs, the tool enables real-time collaboration, allowing stakeholders to edit idea summaries, add comments, and tag each other for questions, thoughts, or feedback.

With the tool’s tracking capabilities, you never miss any changes, ensuring transparency and accountability for each user’s contributions.

Realtime Collaboration TIP Tool - Triangle IP - Brightidea Alternatives

#6 – Keep a Tab on Idea and Patent Pipelines

The TIP Tool^TM provides a comprehensive overview of ideas, inventor and manager activity, filed applications, and patents.

Get a consolidated view of ideas submitted and patents filed by your team.
Identify promising inventors & managers, who submitted the most ideas or filed the most patents.
Pay attention to ideas that remain in the ideation, vetting or patent prosecution stages longer than expected, signaling potential bottlenecks.

Must Read: Strategies for Implementing Effective Innovation Pipeline Management

#7 – Manage restricted access with role-specific dashboards

Each participant must access specific information sets to align effectively with their KPIs in the patent mining process. It’s also crucial that the broader view of IP creation remains exclusive to top leadership. The TIP Tool™ seamlessly meets these requirements, ensuring appropriate access and visibility for all relevant stakeholders.

#8 – Make Informed Patent Decisions With the Patent Analytics

The TIP Tool™ delivers extensive patent analytics, facilitating data-driven patent decisions. It enables you to:

Derive vital insights into the patentability of your idea
Predict the expected allowance timeline
Get estimates on end-to-end patenting costs
Stay in sync with USPTO status updates

Also, check this video where Thomas Franklin, shares how to reduce dependence on outside IP counsel in patent related matters?

Pricing

The TIP Tool^TM offers a free tier for up to ten users with no time limit. Additionally, it provides a premium tier priced at $50 per month or $495 per year. The TIP ToolTM also offers a custom tier for those seeking custom options. To explore further details, please visit the pricing page.

Customer Review

TriangleIP boosts an impressive “likelihood to recommend” score of 9/10, indicating high customer satisfaction. Here’s a screenshot of a review from their database.

Viima Alternative #2: Wazoku

Wazoku is a collaborative idea management software that allows enterprises to gather, evaluate, prioritize and select the best ideas from contributors.

Wazoku’s typical customers are large enterprises. Wazoku key users include Innovation Managers, Innovation Officers, Strategy Officers, HR Directors and Heads of Innovation.

Source – Wazoku

Key Benefits of Using Wazoku

Wazoku provides an integrated enterprise innovation platform, including idea management software, an open innovation marketplace, and innovation consulting.

Let’s discuss a few more worth noting benefits:

Helps you create private groups and forums within Wazoku’s platform to gather ideas from internal contributors and external audiences and allow commenting, voting and suggesting.

Unlock the potential of your business with features like – Idea Spotlight. Users find it a mature product that captures, filters and prioritizes the ideas generated within a business or community.
Evaluate and discuss shortlisted ideas and select which to develop and implement with Wazoku’s Review Boards.
Helps you visualize and evaluate activity with the Wazoku’s dashboard and reports, which can be further exported for analysis.

Pricing

Wazoku provides customized packages based on your unique business needs. Contact them here to get your customized price.

Customer Review

Here’s a screenshot of a Capterra review, and to explore more reviews, click here.

Viima Alternative #3: Aha!

Aha! is a cloud-based idea management solution. Teams can collaborate, capture ideas, define product strategies, manage agile development, and deliver innovative capabilities.

The platform facilitates idea collection, work prioritization, scheduling, workflow customization, and stakeholder collaboration.

Key Benefits of Using Aha!

Aha’s platform helps product managers set strategy, connect it to their teams, create visual roadmaps, manage releases, prioritize operations, and catch ideas.

Aha! helps you to crowdsource ideas and customer feedback in a central ideas portal. Analyze trends and engage with customers to find what they need — so you can prioritize what to build.
Aha! facilitates collaborative thinking by offering an expert notebook designed specifically for product managers. Users can effortlessly create visually appealing notes and whiteboards with guided templates to capture insightful ideas.
Aha! has an exceptional customer support team. With Aha!, you can expect answers to your queries, engage in meaningful email conversations with named representatives, and avoid getting lost in a complex ticketing system.
Helps you to inspire collaborative thinking. Utilize an expert’s notebook for product managers to craft beautiful notes and whiteboards with guided templates, capturing insights and ideas.

Pricing

Aha! has two pricing plans – “Essentials” and “Advanced”.

The essential package is $39. It starts per user/month (minimum three paid users). The Advanced package is $59. It starts per user/month (minimum three paid users).

Customer Review

Look at this G2 review screenshot and click here to explore additional reviews.

Viima Alternative #4: Miro

Miro is an online collaborative whiteboard platform that empowers teams to collaborate effectively and work together. It offers a range of functionalities, from brainstorming with digital sticky notes to planning and managing agile workflows.

From product and design to sales and marketing, Miro empowers hybrid teams to work better together.

Source – Miro

Key Benefits of Using Miro

Miro’s online collaborative whiteboard platform can be used as an idea management solution to capture, evaluate and implement ideas from different stakeholders.

Let’s discuss some important benefits of implementing this innovative solution:

Most customers say Miro’s template library (which helps you instantly innovate your next meeting, workshop, course or session by giving you activities or a structure to facilitate) is exceptional, and a user-friendly interface makes navigation incredibly simple and intuitive.
Allows you to create notes and designs, move things around, and communicate through embedded video calls or online chats.
Offers ample space to accommodate thoughts and ideas. It helps you to design dashboards that consolidate all the information, enabling users to grasp the bigger picture while still attending to important details.
Helps you to communicate in real-time, discuss projects and ideas in board chats, leave tagged comments, and use voice and video calls.

Pricing

Miro offers a free trial. The premium plan starts at $8 per member/month, billed annually or $10 monthly.

Customer Review

Here’s a screenshot of a G2 review. However, if you want to read more reviews, click here.

Viima Alternative #5: Idea Drop

Idea Drop is an idea management platform for medium-sized businesses and large enterprises. Idea Drop empowers businesses to crowdsource ideas, allowing their employees to provide comments and feedback on innovative suggestions.

Source: Idea Drop

Key Benefits of Using Idea Drop

Idea Drop offers a comprehensive end-to-end process for idea management. Idea Drop’s intuitive social features make sharing and collaborating with ideas fun, allowing businesses to solve problems faster with fresh insights and perspectives.

Includes an automatic real-time scoring feature that ranks the most promising ideas based on their potential.
Provides filtering tools that allow in-depth examination of ideas data, analytics, and key performance indicators (KPIs). The tool also offers extensive reporting options, with the convenience of exporting data to .csv format for further analysis.
Helps you with an exceptional onboarding process and remarkable customer support. Many customers say the platform is user-friendly and has received excellent pre and post-launch support.
Enables individuals, teams, and groups to share business ideas and feedback while automatically applying real-time scoring to prioritize the most promising ideas.

Pricing

Idea Drop has three pricing packages – Starter, Professional and Enterprise. However, they did not display their pricing publicly. You may contact them here to know more.

Customer Review

Here’s a screenshot of a G2 review. However, if you want to read more reviews, click here.

Check this video where the founder of Triangle IP shares how IP management software can impact your innovation process?

The TIP Tool^TM – A Promising Viima Alternative

Your motivations for exploring alternatives to Viima will be dictated by your enterprise’s distinct needs. In our thorough review, we’ve strived to accommodate diverse requirements by considering a range of product offerings. We hope you find this information beneficial.

We’ve built the TIP Tool^TM intending to democratize the patent creation process. Hence it allows you to:

Boost invention disclosures with its straightforward idea-capture form.
Stay on top of ideas and patent pipelines.
Get a glimpse of the patent portfolio in one click.
Facilitate real-time idea brainstorming akin to Google Docs collaboration.
Offer role-based dashboards for controlled access to IP information and ideas.
Make informed IP decisions.
Make the most of the tool through the helpdesk.
Enjoy flexible pricing.

Level up your patent mining process with the TIP Tool^TM today by registering on the tool right away.

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.

5 Best Free Idea Sharing Platforms to Try in 2023

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 Tool^TM 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 Tool^TM by Triangle IP.

The TIP Tool^TM by Triangle IP

Triangle IP - Free Idea Sharing Platform

The TIP Tool^TM 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 Tool^TM:

#1 – Capture Enterprise-Wide Innovation

The TIP Tool^TM 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 Tool^TM 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 Tool^TM 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 Tool^TM 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 Tool^TM 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 Tool^TM 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 Tool^TMtags provide a way to classify and search for invention disclosures.

Furthermore, the TIP Tool^TM also enables tagging patent applications, which links them to specific products or features.

#4 – Utilize the Drag-And-Drop Interface

The TIP Tool^TM 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 Tool^TM 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 Tool^TM 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 Tool^TM 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 Tool^TM 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 Tool^TM‘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 Tool^TM 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 Tool^TM 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 Tool^TM provides a free tier (forever, up to 10 users). Its premium tier costs $50 per month and $495 per year. The TIP Tool^TM has a custom tier as well. To learn more, visit its pricing page.

Customer review

The TIP Tool^TM 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 Tool^TM – 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 Tool^TM.
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 Tool^TM offers many more capabilities to mine patents and stays on top of the patent portfolio. To explore further, register on the tool now.

6 Idea Management Tools for Innovation Driven Enterprises to Look at in 2023

“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” – Steve Jobs

While collaborating to bring innovative solutions to pressing business problems, have you ever wondered how companies at the bleeding edge of innovation approach such high-impact decisions? Embracing the right idea management techniques can be a game-changer in nurturing a culture of innovation.

I recently came across Nestlé’s InGenius. It is the company’s “Employee Innovation Accelerator.” But, here is the kicker, Nestlé paved the way to incentivize its nearly 300,000 employees working in almost 200 nations globally to help the company bring innovative solutions to the market.

This accelerator has delivered on its promise, and how! It has allowed Nestlé to fast-track innovation and provide game-changing solutions to the market in months. In addition, the company has sought to fortify its competitive advantage in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Virtual Reality, saving natural resources and increasing the incomes of its farmer partners.

6 Idea Management Tools

Just so you know, managing your intellectual property assets on an excel spreadsheet is a bad idea. So before we proceed, ensure that you heed this word of caution and avoid running a broken idea management process.

With that covered, let’s learn about the idea management tools an innovation-driven enterprise like yours can utilize.

The TIP Tool^TMby Triangle IP

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. Implementing tools like this is essential in strategies to strengthen your patent portfolio through efficient idea management and patent lifecycle tracking. With the TIP Tool^TM, anyone in the enterprise can submit and track the progress of their innovative ideas.

Key Benefits Offered by the TIP Tool^TM for Idea Management

#1- Enable Enterprise-Wide Participation

The TIP Tool^TM allows role-based access to users. Enterprises using the tool can enable employee participation across the enterprise without worrying about the confidentiality of certain IP-related information. For example, did you know that PepsiCo’s low-sodium snack idea came from someone who didn’t belong to the R&D team?

#2 – Capture More Innovation by Minimizing Friction from Innovators for Idea Submission

The TIP Tool^TM offers a short, simple, easy-to-fill idea capture form that innovators can fill to describe their ideas or inventions. Moreover, the TIP Tool^TM offers a magic link-based login that relieves innovators from remembering one more password. There might be a situation wherein you need to decide between unfiled ideas and low-priority ideas. Users can utilize TIP Tool^TM’s archive feature to focus on important ideas.

#3 – Gather Specific Information from Innovators with Customizable Idea Form

The TIP Tool^TM offers a customizable idea capture form. The innovation managers can add/edit or delete fields of the form. Sometimes, there arises a possibility that an enterprise requires specific information for which there is no field in the default idea capture form. The TIP Tool^TMcovers this scenario as well. The TIP Tool^TM makes it possible to incorporate a company’s internal nomenclature so that no additional training is required for staff.

#4 – Filter Ideas Based on Tags for Any Discussion

TIP Tool^TM understands the importance of having an organized system. Therefore, it allows users to tag, group, and filter ideas. For example, for a particular business meeting, you may wish to select ideas that belong to a specific line of product, technology, or some other category. The TIP Tool^TM makes it extremely easy to add tags to ideas and, consequently, filter ideas based on such tags later.

#5 – Select the Most Promising Ideas for Patenting by Enabling Thorough Vetting of Ideas

The TIP Tool^TM makes it easy for inventors, managers, patent counsel, or other stakeholders working from remote locations to brainstorm ideas in real time. The TIP Tool^TMachieves this by allowing users to edit idea information and add comments. In addition, the TIP Tool^TM records every change made to idea-related information. Moreover, all your ideas can be scored on different parameters within the TIP Tool^TM. You can utilize these scores to prioritize and rank the patentability of each idea.

#6 – Track Ideas As They Progress Through All the Stages of the IP Lifecycle

The TIP Tool^TM offers a drag-and-drop interface to move ideas from one stage to another. It provides four stages to track ideas as they progress – Idea Capture, Internal Vetting, Patent Drafting, and Patent Filing.

#7 – Get USPTO Status Updates for Your Patents and Patent Applications Without the Help of a Patent Counsel

The TIP Tool^TM helps you stay in sync with the USPTO by automatically fetching updates on your patents and patent applications and displaying them within the tool. In addition, you can receive notifications on any PTO rejections your idea received and promptly address each idea’s probable roadblocks within the TIP Tool^TM.

#8 – Track KPIs of Innovators at Your Enterprise

The TIP Tool^TM offers a super simple dashboard to see innovation-related metrics for your R&D teams quickly. For example, you can see the number of ideas submitted and the patentability of those ideas by all your innovators. In addition, you can identify the most promising innovators as well.

#9 – Get A Quick Glimpse of Your Idea Pipeline in One Click

The TIP Tool^TM also offers role-specific dashboards. As a result, innovation managers can get a holistic view of the idea pipeline in seconds. Consequently, the TIP Tool^TM helps you manage the workflow from idea collection to portfolio management.

Demo

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

Pricing

The TIP Tool^TM provides a free tier (forever). Its premium tier costs $50 per month and $495 per year. The TIP Tool^TM has a custom tier as well. Visit its pricing page.

Review

Client Interaction

We mentioned the TIP Tool^TM’s features of staying in sync with the USPTO and understanding an idea’s movement along the IP lifecycle with a glance.

Triangle IP’s founder, Tom Franklin, regularly speaks to prospects and clients to gather insights on benefiting from using the TIP Tool^TM.

Here’s what a prospect had to say about these features.

Their Usual Process

“At our company, we track IP progress during each quarter in the following manner:

First, how many inventions are getting started?
Second, how many of these inventions are getting completed (meaning that they have been sent to the Intellectual Property Committee to make a decision)?
Next, how many Intellectual Property Committee decisions are being made in a quarter?
In the final stage, we also consider it a success if we establish trade secrets. However, make no mistake, filing a patent would be the best success.

Understandably, we consider how many filings we have completed in the quarter. So that is our specific focus on the metrics.”

How the TIP Tool^TM Helps

“I used to get emails from my boss asking, “Show me how many of these things happened this quarter.” I would previously have to generate this data manually.”

Having this information summarised in your tool is extremely handy for me.

Website

Visit Triangle IP’s website to explore the TIP Tool^TM.

Brightidea Idea Box

Brightidea’s advanced software attempts to accelerate the success of innovation by facilitating and streamlining the ideation process and collaboration.

Key Benefits Offered by Brightidea Idea Box for Idea Management

#1 – Collect Ideas Using A Frictionless Platform

Brightidea’s Idea Box offers an always-on digital suggestion box for collecting ideas. This accessibility empowers the workforce to submit ideas whenever and wherever is convenient.

#2 – Scale Your Innovation Platform

If your business requires help managing and automating an increased volume of idea submissions, Idea Box can upgrade the system at no extra cost for additional modules and services.

#3 – Receive Robust Idea Analytics

To make informed idea decisions, Idea Box can track every idea’s RoI and business impact from within the tool.

Demo

You can request a demo here.

Pricing

Brightidea allows a free trial to try the product. Unfortunately, extensive pricing information is unavailable.

Review

You can explore Brightidea’s reviews on G2.

Website

Visit Brightidea’s Idea Box website to explore the product.

Ideanote

Ideanote is a next-generation innovation software that offers what users need to collect, develop, prioritize and act on more of the right ideas.

Key Benefits Offered by Ideanote for Idea Management

#1 – Collect Highly Contextual Ideas

Ideanote allows users to achieve quantity and quality while sharing ideas. For example, if users want to add images, presentation decks, or videos to give people context, Ideanote makes it possible.

#2 – Facilitate Enterprise-Wide Innovation

Ideanote allows outsiders to contribute to the internal innovation process through guest accounts. Moreover, the tool promotes community building by letting people describe their expertise.

#3 – Customize Access to Innovation Process

Ideanote allows users to organize people in groups and assign them access depending on their roles in innovation management. Therefore, a section of users can contribute ideas, while experts can manage tasks surrounding the vetting of ideas.

Demo

You can request a demo here.

Pricing

Ideanote’s free tier (limited to 10 members) is free. The business tier (for 15 to 2500 members) offers dynamic pricing, ranging from $49/month to $1249/month. The enterprise tier (unlimited members) requires booking a demo. Visit its pricing page.

Review

You can explore Ideanote’s reviews on G2.

Website

Visit Ideanote’s website to explore the product.

IdeaScale

IdeaScale is an innovation management solution that links enterprises to people with ideas. It is an intuitive space where the best ideas thrive based on merit. IdeaScale lends relevance to the most important challenges.

Key Benefits Offered by IdeaScale for Idea Management

#1 – Collect Ideas Using Intuitive Form

IdeaScale offers a simple and customizable idea submission form to add relevant details.

#2 – Integrate Social Sharing APIs

To add new ideas to your enterprise’s IdeaScale community, users can utilize in-built APIs to platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Slack, and MS Teams.

#3 – Receive Innovation Trend Analysis and RoI

IdeaScale offers enterprise-wide innovation dashboards allowing users to gain insights into an enterprise’s innovation inputs and outputs. You can learn more about ideas’ origin, implementation, and relative value.

Demo

You can request a demo here.

Pricing

IdeaScale crafts its pricing proposal based on the program’s chosen features, scope, and more. IdeaScale requires booking a demo for this process.

Review

You can explore IdeaScale’s reviews on G2.

Website

Visit IdeaScale’s website to explore the product.

Viima

Viima is an all-in-one innovation platform that helps take ideas to innovations, helping along every step. Viima makes the journey effortless so that users can focus on making more innovation happen.

Key Benefits Offered by Viima for Idea Management

#1 – Effortlessly Process Idea Collection

Viima allows the categorization of new ideas in the right places. Moreover, it automatically ensures that the right people receive notifications about new ideas.

#2 – Promote Responsible Enterprise-Wide Engagement

In addition to mentioning specific users during idea vetting, Viima offers the feature of allocating an idea’s responsibility to particular users.

#3 – Prioritize Flexible Idea Evaluation

Viima offers a flexible evaluation system allowing users to create custom metrics to rate ideas.

Demo

You can request a demo here.

Pricing

Viima’s basic tier is available for free. The premium tier starts at $6/user/month. The unlimited tier starts at $1999/month. Visit its pricing page.

Review

You can explore Viima’s reviews on G2.

Website

Visit Viima’s website to explore the product.

Idea Drop

Idea Drop allows leading global enterprises to put innovation at the heart of their enterprises. It packs powerful automation and intuitive intelligence to supercharge innovation programs and collaborate on strategic goals.

Key Benefits Offered by Idea Drop for Idea Management

#1 – Promote Safe Idea Collection Form

All users are not comfortable with publicly sharing their ideas. Idea Drop allows users to hit a ‘cloak’ button when dropping an idea to hide their identity.

#2 – Informs Collaborators of Idea Changes

Idea Drop alerts users in real-time about status changes to ideas and other significant interactions between users.

#3 – Avoid Duplicate Idea Generation

Idea Drop’s pattern recognition technology flags similar ideas to avoid collaborating on similar alternatives to existing ideas.

Demo

You can request a demo here.

Pricing

Extensive pricing is unavailable—contact Idea Drop for more details.

Review

You can explore Idea Drop’s reviews on G2.

Website

Visit Idea Drop’s website to explore the product.

Quick Wrap Up

There are several competing idea management tools available for innovation-driven enterprises. But the “best” idea management software is the one that matches the size and the nuanced needs of your enterprise.

If you are a small-to-medium enterprise, you will significantly benefit from using the TIP Tool^TM.

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.