New ideas are exciting. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be tested – in fact, new ideas only get stronger if they’re first looked at from every angle.
We usually hear about new ideas in two ways: either directly from the innovators themselves, or via their Trust. In the former case we will notify the respective Trust and then looks to act once we receive instruction. In both cases we will then look to properly assess the idea – including its novelty, its scope for intellectual property protection and also its workability in terms of commercialisation and broad adoption.
We can facilitate a peer-review, working with the Trust to hold an internal process by which a range of opinions from different stakeholders can be solicited. We can also offer an external peer-review, whereby we discuss the idea, under a full non-disclosure agreement (NDA), with relevant parties external to the Trust, in order to scope its potential placement in the wider healthcare environment.
We will also produce a summary of the intellectual property (IP) considerations relating to the idea. These might include intellectual property already in place, or products already in existence and in the public domain, the potential for IP protection, and a set of possible development actions or routes to commercialisation.
Likewise, if they wish, we can provide Trusts with a fuller Research Report that takes into consideration a wider range of factors: research into new developments and solutions in that area, including a potential competitor analysis; an investigation of existing IP with the potential to halt development, including the engagement of a patent attorney to conduct a full ‘Freedom to Operate’ search, research into the market size, potential selling prices and routes to commercialisation (licensing, spin-outs etc.); a review of potential costs and funding sources for which we can provide support; and a summary of the development work necessary to take the idea from its current stage to market.
In every case we only provide the information a Trust requests – many don’t need or require the full range of research we able to produce.
The resulting information and report can then be passed back to the Trust for an internal review, to decide how the organisation would like to proceed.
Contact us to discuss your particular needs.