Brainstorming is more than ideas. After working with hundreds of clients over the last seven years, we have found that the word brainstorming means many things to many people; but, in general, we have found that brainstorming and creative problem solving
- Produce good ideas, but not “enabled inventions”
- Are not often focused or directed strategically in areas important to the business
- Do not deal with the prior art or the Patent Office specification USC 112 rules
- Do not produce patentable inventions
- Are not flexible enough to “invent on top of”
- Are not flexible enough to “invent around”
- Are not flexible enough to “invent in front of”
- Are not processes that get buy-in from the technical and legal community
Our team has authored hundreds of patentable inventions and
has helped others author literally thousands of enabled inventions.
The process that we use is called Invention
on Demand (IOD) that
- Always produces “enabled inventions” (usually 15 – 20 in a day)
- Can be focused strategically
- Deals with the prior art and can produce inventions that are patentable
- Is flexible enough to be used to invent “around,” “on “top of”, or “in front of”
- Can be taught and used in teams or individually
The theory of how this is done relies on two well-known processes that come together in a unique way. The first is “Associative Thinking,” which uses creativity tools to generate associations to find the “seeds” of an idea. The second is “Continuous Improvement Thinking,” which takes the seed of an idea to improve it through multiple rounds of critical and engineering thinking, to get the idea to a workable invention that is “bought” by the team.
Beyond this, how you set up the brainstorming session will direct the associations and, therefore, the starting points of the ideas.
Most importantly, before you start brainstorming, understand the strategic direction of the business and understand the “Landscape” of the space and the patents and inventions of others. Then, brainstorm!
To obtain more information or discuss your unique challenges please contact us.
