Hey, inventors and innovators! Welcome back to another blog post inspired by our podcast series Invent Anything. Today, we’re discussing a critical topic that often gets overlooked in the innovation process: how to develop patentable ideas using divergent and convergent thinking. Whether you’re a CEO, a startup founder, or an inventor, these thinking styles are essential tools that can help you generate and refine patentable ideas.
Now, before we jump into the nitty-gritty, let’s start with a simple analogy. Imagine you’re an artist sitting in front of a blank canvas. Divergent thinking is when you unleash your imagination—throwing ideas onto the canvas, exploring all possibilities without judgment. It’s brainstorming at its best. Then, once you’ve filled the canvas with various concepts, convergent thinking comes in. This is where you analyze and refine the ideas, deciding which strokes will stay and which should be erased. Together, these thinking styles shape raw creativity into something functional and valuable—just like an invention.
Divergent thinking is the process of generating many potential ideas. It’s the phase where no idea is too crazy. You’re essentially opening the floodgates of creativity, encouraging the mind to wander and explore possibilities without limits. Think of it as the foundation of invention—it’s the part where you say, “What if…?” and then let your mind fill in the blanks.
In the world of intellectual property, divergent thinking is where you can unlock truly novel concepts. Take, for example, the initial concept of the light bulb. Before anyone thought about the practicality, it was just a wild, imaginative idea—harnessing electricity to produce light. It’s these kinds of leaps that allow inventors to push the boundaries of what’s possible and begin developing patentable ideas.
Once you have all these imaginative ideas out in the open, you need convergent thinking to sift through them. This is where you start narrowing down the options, evaluating the feasibility, and deciding what can be developed into something patentable. It’s about bringing structure and order to the chaos.
Convergent thinking helps you focus on what’s workable and valuable from a business perspective. For example, let’s say you’ve generated 50 different concepts for a new product. Convergent thinking helps you refine those ideas down to the one that solves a real-world problem and has commercial potential. It’s like being a sculptor—you start with a large block of marble, and through careful chiseling, you reveal the masterpiece that is your patentable idea.
Both divergent and convergent thinking are critical in the intellectual property process. Divergent thinking helps you discover innovative ideas, and convergent thinking refines those ideas into something tangible, patentable, and marketable. It’s a beautiful balance—first, you let your creativity roam free, and then you reel it in to make it practical.
Think of innovation like building a rocket. Divergent thinking is about dreaming up the wild idea of going to the moon. Convergent thinking is how you actually build the rocket to get there, transforming that initial spark into a patentable invention.
As an inventor or a CEO, you need to create an environment that encourages both divergent and convergent thinking. Here’s how you can apply it:
If you want to foster innovation in your company or within your personal creative process, you need both divergent and convergent thinking. One without the other leaves you with either a flood of undeveloped ideas or a narrow focus that doesn’t push boundaries.
So, the next time you’re working on a new invention or a patentable idea, remember to think like both an artist and a sculptor. Dream big, explore every possibility, and then refine your ideas into something functional and groundbreaking. That’s how to develop patentable ideas using divergent and convergent thinking.
Keep inventing, and as always, stay curious!
Written by
John Cronin