You know the feeling … inspiration strikes, you have a brilliant idea that’s a game changer, you can see the market opportunity, you can see the potential to build a business, but how do you overcome the first major obstacle … funding?
Initial funds are needed for patent, design and trademark protection, product development and packaging, your website and other marketing activities.
You will also want to have an exit strategy! Do you really want to work in the business forever? Probably not. So at what point do you leave, and how is that exit going to happen? How will you get to your end goal?
Funds are needed both to start your project, and to get you to a position which allows you to sell your business.
So what options are available both when starting out and downstream? There are not a huge number of options, and the following links will likely expire overtime and/or be changed (if you’re reading this in the future!), but it will hopefully give you a flavour and therefore some knowledge as to where to look:
Crowd funding
Peer to peer funding is, at the moment, hugely popular. Websites such as Kickstarter and Indigogo will allow you to upload details of your project, and the general public can opt to fund your idea for the promise of a return, such as the first run of the product perhaps at a lower price or with added incentives. Be very aware, however, that uploading your project to any sites such as these will potentially invalidate any patent or design protection you can then obtain downstream, if you do not file to secure these intellectual property rights first! It is therefore critical that you decide whether or not to seek patent or design protection for your innovation before dealing with Kickstarter or Indigogo. Ask the questions first, take some advice, and then make an informed decision.
A company called Funded Today may also be able to leverage social media as part of your Kickstarter or Indigogo campaign, helping you reach your target more easily (although, they will take a hefty percentage of the pledged amount!).
Government funding options
Innovate UK, part of the UK Government, has up to £15 million to invest in innovative research and development projects in manufacturing and materials; emerging and enabling technologies; health and life sciences; and infrastructure systems. It is an open competition, so you will need to apply with a good proposal! The details can be seen by clicking through to this page of the UK Government website.
Innovate UK is also to invest up to £15 million in innovation projects in manufacturing and/or materials. This is operated by the UK Government, and is competition based, so you will need to apply with a good proposal. The details can be seen by clicking through to this page of the UK Government website.
Another Innovate UK grant is available for businesses to apply for a share of £4.5 million to develop smarter, better connected 3D printing solutions. Again, this is operated by the UK Government, and is competition based, so a good proposal will be needed. The details can be seen by clicking through to this page of the UK Government website.
Innovative businesses and researchers from any sector can apply for a share of an extra £10 million for the Energy Catalyst competition, addressing low carbon, security of supply, and affordability. This available funding is in addition to up to £6 million already committed by the Department for International Development (DFID), and up to £3 million committed by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). See the details also on this page of the UK Government Website.
… and some more
The Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) research and technology (R&T) programme provides a £3.8 billion joint government and industry investment. This is for larger and more complex projects relating to technology and capability challenges, aiming to maintain and grow the UK’s competitive position in aerospace design and manufacture. See this page on the UK Government website for more details.
A list of other funding options made available by the UK Government can be found here: Innovate UK, and include some interesting ones, such as developing automatic detection of illegal firearms. The role out of further funding over the coming years by Innovate UK is also discussed at this link. It’s worth a quick read, just to be aware of what might be coming along.
An interesting website called GrantTree also aims to give you an insight to potential funding options from the UK Government.
Exit strategy
So, you have your patent granted downstream (and, hopefully, your patented product is selling well!). How do you now exit? We are often asked how to sell a patent. There are a couple of options, namely the ever-present Google and a similar system which was run for a period by a collaboration of companies.
Taking Google first, you can apply to have your patent rights purchased on Google’s Patent Acquisition Page.
There was also a program run recently called IP3 (Industry Patent Purchase Program) which was organised by a not-for-profit organisation called AST. The IP3 program, which brought together companies such as Microsoft, Honda, Hyundai, Kia and Adobe, is currently not in operation, but may be revived, so it is worth keeping an eye out for this. However, AST is still offering to market your patent portfolio, so this may be worth investigating further.
With the above options relating to Google, IP3 or AST purchasing your patent rights, please always be careful to read and understand any agreement that you are being asked to enter into!