Firstly I am going to define what I class as a technological innovation. To me a technological innovation is something that is clever, unique, is fit for it’s intended purpose and has a market.
Technological innovations can be created both within a company or outside of a company, or even within a start up business or university. When these innovations come about and are developed to a point where they can be marketed and sold a lot of the innovations don't get off of the ground. However most people believe that this is due to a lack of funding and finance. This is where most people are wrong. The funding is out there if you look hard enough for it and you can persuade the investors that there is a market that needs the product.
Think about how many times you have come up with an innovative idea related to technology, be it a product or a program. How many times has your company turned round to you and said, great idea, developed it and then shelved it? Usually there is a reason behind this, and more often than not it is to do with it affecting their profits. They see it as a negative, whereas they should take note of their innovators as these are the people that breathe life and soul into products. There are thousands of companies that keep an eye out on innovative developments relating to their market and they are ready to pounce on the owner and buy the idea off of them. Why is this? Well it is cheaper to stop these products from ever reaching a customer than it is to compete against it. Some shelved products include the ever lasting light bulb and the self recharging battery…. It is up to the innovators not to give into these bullying tactics.
Entire small businesses and start-up companies are quashed in this way by bigger businesses who just want to ensure that they are at the top… which is the name of their game… and it is a shame in a way, that some of these inventions will never ever get into the market place. They will probably be forgotten forever. Something to look out for though is the dates on the patents covering these inventions…. The big companies can only hold the rights for so long before they need renewing and usually because they are so big they don't remember to keep up with their renewals and sometimes it can leave a market open to attack!!! Get them whilst they are off guard!
posted @ Wednesday, July 13, 2005 6:04 AM