Major steps

New product, process or apparatus or any new use thereof. To be patentable, an invention must be novel, involve an inventive step (i.e. not be obvious to those having ordinary skill in the particular art of the invention) and be susceptible of industrial application.

The process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay. To be called an innovation, an idea must be replicable at an economical cost and must satisfy a specific need. Innovation involves deliberate application of information, imagination and initiative in deriving greater or different values from resources and includes all processes by which new ideas are generated and converted into useful products. In business, innovation often results when ideas are applied by the company in order to further satisfy the needs and expectations of the customers.

Mental characteristic that allows a person to think outside of the box, which results in innovative or different approaches to a particular task. "Amy's creativity is the main factor that landed her the job at the design firm".

An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards. The entrepreneur is commonly seen as an innovator, a source of new ideas, goods, services, and business/or procedures.

The capacity and willingness to develop, organize and manage a business venture along with any of its risks in order to make a profit. The most obvious example of entrepreneurship is the starting of new businesses.

An individual who is in charge of a certain group of tasks, or a certain subset of a company. A manager often has staff who report to them.

As an example, a restaurant will often have a front-of-house manager who helps the patrons, and supervises the hosts; or a specific office project can have a manager, known simply as the project manager. Certain departments within a company designate their managers to be line managers, while others are known as staff managers, depending upon the function of the department.

A good, idea, method, information, object or service created as a result of a process and serves a need or satisfies a want. It has a combination of tangible and intangible attributes (benefits, features, functions, uses) that a seller offers a buyer for purchase. For example, a seller of a toothbrush not only offers the physical product but also the idea that the consumer will be improving the health of their teeth.

It encompasses different kinds of organisational structures whose common core role is to assist public research organizations (PROs) in managing their intellectual assets in ways that facilitate their transformation into benefits for society.

Their role may be broke down into more specific ones including:

• providing assistance on all areas related to entrepreneurship and intellectual property (IP)
• establishing relationships with firms and community actors
• generating new funding support from sponsored research or consulting opportunities
• facilitating the formation of university-connected companies utilizing PRO’s technology (start-up) and/or university people (spin-off) to enhance prospects of further development
• generating net royalties for the PRO and collaborating partners.

The legal right of a person or a company to exclusively use its own plans, ideas, or other intangible assets without worrying about competition, at least for a specific period of time. These rights can include copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. These rights may be enforced by a court via a lawsuit. The reasoning for intellectual property is to encourage innovation without the fear that a competitor will steal the idea and / or take the credit for it.

The process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting information about a market, about a product or service to be offered for sale in that market, and about the past, present and potential customers for the product or service; research into the characteristics, spending habits, location and needs of your business's target market, the industry as a whole, and the particular competitors you face.

This is research you compile yourself or hire someone to gather for you.

This type of research is already compiled and organized for you. Examples of secondary information include reports and studies by government agencies, trade associations or other businesses within your industry. Most of the research you gather will most likely be secondary.

Prior art is any evidence that your invention is already known. Prior art does not need to exist physically or be commercially available. It is enough that someone, somewhere, sometime previously has described or shown or made something that contains a use of technology that is very similar to your invention. For more information on prior art search see European Patent Office.

A formal examination to determine if selling a product or service is worth pursuing. Typically the study used to explore geographic or demographic markets. Also called feasibility study.

Commercialization is the process of bringing new products or services to market. The broader act of commercialization entails production, distribution, marketing, sales, customer support, and other key functions critical to achieving the commercial success of the new product or service.

Ensuring that the commercial production, marketing and use of a new product, process or service does not infringe the intellectual property rights of others.

• TRL 1 – basic principles observed
• TRL 2 – technology concept formulated
• TRL 3 – experimental proof of concept
• TRL 4 – technology validated in lab
• TRL 5 – technology validated in relevant environment (industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies)
• TRL 6 – technology demonstrated in relevant environment (industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies)
• TRL 7 – system prototype demonstration in operational environment
• TRL 8 – system complete and qualified
• TRL 9 – actual system proven in operational environment (competitive manufacturing in the case of key enabling technologies; or in space)

PoC is a demonstration, the purpose of which is to verify that certain concepts or theories have the potential for real-world application. PoC is therefore a prototype that is designed to determine feasibility, but does not represent deliverables. Proof of concept is also known as proof of principle.

It is an original model, form or an instance that serves as a basis for other processes. In software technology, the term prototype is a working example through which a new model or a new version of an existing product can be derived.

It refers to a good or service that can be sold in profitable quantities (within a certain market) on the basis of its price, quality, and service combination preferred by buyers over that offered by competing products.

Income used towards the start up of a new business or company.

Process of soliciting financial support (usually grants) for a non-commercial cause.

1. Wealth in the form of money or assets, taken as a sign of  financial strength of an individual, organization, or nation, and assumed to be available for development or investment.
2. Accounting: Money invested in a business to generate income.
3. Economics: Factors of production that are used to create goods or services and are not themselves in the process.

It defines and protects human innovations and creations. It consists of:

• Trade mark signals the origin of products to consumers
• Designs specify how products look
• Copyright relates to artistic creations, such as books, music, paintings, sculptures and films
• Patents protect technical inventions in all fields of technology

Legal title that gives inventors the right, for a defined period of time (usually 20 years), to prevent others from making, using or selling their invention without their permission in the countries for which the patent has been granted.

They consist of:

• A first page comprising basic information, such as the title of the invention and the name of the inventor, etc.
• A detailed description of the invention, indicating how it is constructed, how it is used, and what benefits it brings, compared with what already exists
• Claims which are a clear and concise definition of what the patent legally protects
• Drawings

The first individual who to develop or manufacture something. An inventor may invent something from scratch or may build upon an already established foundation. "Alexander Graham Bell has been accredited with the invention of the telephone, but a number of other inventors suggested that Bell simply used their developed prototypes to create a working telephone".

Request for patent protection for an invention filed with national, European or other patent offices in accordance with their respective procedures.

To be patentable, an invention must be novel, involve an inventive step (i.e. not be obvious to those having ordinary skill in the particular art of the invention) and be susceptible of industrial application. If these requirements are satisfied, the invention is patentable.

For an idea to be regarded as an invention, at least one significant part of its technology must be completely novel (that is, new). There must be no evidence that this novel aspect of your idea has ever been described before or used for the same purpose before. Not all the technology of an invention needs to be novel. An idea may be an invention if existing technologies are combined in a way that is novel or used in a way that is novel.

Prior art is any evidence that your invention is already known. Prior art does not need to exist physically or be commercially available. It is enough that someone, somewhere, sometime previously has described or shown or made something that contains a use of technology that is very similar to your invention. For more information on prior art search see European Patent Office.

Patent landscape analysis, often referred to as “patent mapping” is a proven multistep process, employing computer software and human intelligence, to parse through, organize and extract value from this vast amount of information. In a nutshell, patent landscape analysis provides insight into the innovations that underlie technology and products.

The executive arm of the European Patent Organisation provides a uniform application procedure which enables inventors to seek patent protection in up to 40 European countries. For more information click here.

A patent that can be obtained for all the EPC contracting states by filing a single application with the EPO in one of the three official languages (English, French or German). European patents granted by EPO have the same legal rights and are subject to the same conditions as national patents granted by the respective national patent office. A granted European patent is a "bundle" of national patents which must be validated at the national patent offices of the countries selected by the applicant for it to be effective.

Free online service allowing users to search the EPO's patent data collection. For more information click here.

The Patent Cooperation Treaty is the treaty under which a single international patent application can be filed for patent protection in up to 152 countries.

The World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO is the agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting the protection of intellectual property throughout the world by encouraging co-operation between nations.

The European IP Helpdesk is a service managed by the European Commission’s Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME). It supports cross-border SMEs and research activities to manage, disseminate and valorise technologies and other Intellectual Property (IP) Rights and IP assets at an EU level. Offering a broad range of informative material, a Helpline service for direct IP support and on-site and online training, the European IP Helpdesk's main goal is to support IP capacity building along the full scale of IP practices: from awareness to strategic use and successful exploitation.

Intellectual property right available in some countries for technical innovations which might not qualify for a patent.

Contractual agreement that gives written permission to another party to use an intellectual property right belonging to another person or company and defines the terms of use. A patent licence does not amount to an assignment of the patent.