Ten lessons from successful inventions

Lesson 1 - If every company you approach rejects your idea, don't give up. Starting up your own business as a short-term measure to prove that your idea really could sell can change corporate minds. It helps to have very strong IP though…

Project: Workmate
Client: Black and Decker
Inventor: Ron Hickman
Year: Idea conceived in 1961

Ron Hickman had the idea for a portable workbench in 1961 and spent many years trying to interest manufacturers without success. They all told him: 'It'll never sell'. He eventually succeeded by manufacturing and selling it himself by mail order. That provided concrete proof that it did sell and he was then able to win a licensing agreement with Black and Decker. Four decades and around 25million sales later, it's the world's leading DIY aid - but it hasn't got there without tribulations. Ron Hickman has spent over £1million protecting his patents against infringers.

Lesson 2 - Stay in business and beat the companies who previously rejected you - in the marketplace and maybe in the courts too. 

Project: Cyclone vacuum cleaner
Client: Dyson
Inventor: James Dyson
Year: Early 1990s

James Dyson couldn't interest anyone in the UK in a bagless vacuum cleaner so he licensed it to a Japanese company who produced a very expensive machine in 1991. On the back of this proof of market and income he set up his own manufacturing facility in the UK in 1993.

The Dyson vacuum has since become the most successful product in this market and the company has successfully defended its patents against infringement by Hoover.

Project: Clockwork radio
Inventor: Trevor Baylis
Year: Idea conceived in 1991

A TV programme about AIDS in Africa started Trevor Baylis thinking about the need to relay educational messages to remote areas with radios that didn't use conventional batteries or mains electricity. He had the idea of powering a radio using a small generator driven by a clockwork motor. He had many rejections and some experts even said it wasn't possible to make a suitable spring drive.

With his options running out and the patent clock ticking, he was very lucky when an airing of the rough prototype on the BBC's Tomorrow's World in 1994 was seen by entrepreneurs who recognised its potential. Without this break, Trevor Baylis would have had to choose between maintaining his patents at high cost, or losing them.

Lesson 4 - When a large company changes its mind or doesn't share your faith in a product's potential, keep going. Another company may well take a completely different attitude.

Project: Paint 'n' Grain
Client: Ronseal
Inventor: Edward Prosser
Year: 1995

Painter and decorator Edward Prosser thought of a new and improved way of achieving a popular decorative paint finish. One large company tested and helped prove the formulation but didn't take up its option to market it under licence.

Rather than give up, Prosser stuck to his belief that the product had enormous potential and kept looking for a suitable licensee. That turned out to be Ronseal. The company claims that Paint 'n' Grain is now the most successful wood care product in Europe. 

Lesson 5 - A small company with a successful product is often seen as a soft target by larger companies bent on copycatting. However, strong IP and legal action can produce a more level playing field.

Project: Anywayup Cup
Inventor: Mandy Haberman
Year: 1995

Mandy Haberman invented something every parent would recognise as indispensable - a toddler's drinking cup that can be turned upside down or shaken without spilling. But none of the companies she approached was interested in making a deal. So with the help of a small marketing company she decided to go it alone.

She had huge success - then one of the larger companies she had previously approached produced a similar product. She challenged the infringer and won - a rare outcome at that time. She has now expanded her markets, including in the USA, through an exclusive licence.

Lesson 6 - Company R&D can be a much more fertile source of new ideas if 'This is wrong' thinking is replaced by 'Does this have other possibilities?' thinking.

Project: Post-it Notes
Client: 3M
Inventor: Art Fry
Year: 1980

3M is a company noted for innovation and their Post-it notes are an excellent example of in-house serendipity. In the course of trying to produce stronger adhesives Dr Spence Silver hit on a formula with weaker adhesion but for that reason could be reused.

He passed the information on and Art Fry identified a use for it - first as a bookmark, then as a means of communication. This is a great illustration of how the inventive process can result in a completely new and hugely successful product range that people didn't know they needed until it was offered to them.

Lesson 7 - Successful invention is nearly always a team game. For example, to maximise licensing potential you may need specialist expertise to find the right companies and negotiate with them.

Project: Biogel Reveal gloves
Client: Worthington-Richardson Designs (WRD)
Designers: Pam and Philip Richardson
Year: 1990 conceived

With increasing concerns about AIDS and hepatitis, cross infection from patients is a real risk for surgeons. In 1990 Pam and Philip Richardson developed a conceptually simple but ingenious technology that indicates instantly when surgical gloves have been punctured. With no medical industry backing or contacts and no experience of IP exploitation, they teamed up with licensing expert David Whitaker who was instrumental in getting the product to market.

Now marketed worldwide as Biogel Reveal, the glove is the market leader in its sector, was one of the first Millennium Products and in 2003 won a Queen's Award for Enterprise.  

Lesson 8 - Company bosses can be inventive too, and even they can have trouble getting their ideas past the sceptics.

Project: Walkman
Client: Sony
Inventor: Kozo Ohsone
Year: 1978

Even when invention starts at the very top of a large corporation, it can be a struggle to win over the sceptics. In 1978, Sony co-founder Masaru Ibuka asked his R&D people to design a lightweight portable playback device so he could listen to music on plane trips. The result was the prototype Walkman.

CEO Akio Morita recognised its huge potential, but at that time Sony was in financial trouble and most of its directors wanted to concentrate on TVs and video products. Morita's vision and determination prevailed and the Walkman hit the market a mere four months later and became a phenomenon.

Lesson 9 - Using your IP to open up an idea for others to develop can be a successful strategy for strengthening your own business.

Project: Float glass
Client: Pilkingtons
Inventor: Sir Alistair Pilkington
Year: 1952

Invention plus enlightened IP strategy can be a hugely potent combination. The float glass process, which dramatically cut the cost of manufacturing sheet glass, was invented in the 1950s by Pilkingtons, at the time a relatively small family firm. It took seven years and more than £7m (£100m in today's money) to develop the process.

The company maximised potential not just by licensing to other glass manufacturers but also by granting them free use of any improvements they might make as long as Pilkingtons could use them too. The lower cost of float glass and the licensing royalties together turned Pilkingtons into a global player. 

Lesson 10 - IP creates opportunities for individuals to work in conjunction with larger companies and exert much greater market influence than they would working alone.

Project: Lotus Bicycle
Inventor: Mike Burrows

Mike Burrows came to public attention for the original concept of the Lotus Bicycle used by Chris Boardman to win an Olympic gold medal. He gained recognition but little direct reward. He then generated further patent cover for his ideas, partly by carrying out thorough searches to ensure that he wouldn't be infringing existing IP.

He negotiated an agreement with Giant, a Taiwanese manufacturer which produces bikes based on his ideas and continues to develop his concepts.