Help 4 inventors

Business innovation - SciTech Innovation Hub

The SciTech Innovation Hub is where ideas for innovative products meet the engineering, marketing and business resources that can turn them into reality.

Our Service

The Help 4 Inventors service has been set up to help inventors commercialise their ideas. In return for a fee of £65 charged for each innovation reviewed by the SciTech Innovation Hub we will:

• Complete a Confidentiality Agreement (Non-Disclosure Agreement) with you as an inventor before you disclose any details of the innovative new product
• Offer a one-hour meeting with our innovation experts at Wolverhampton Science Park (or correspond by post / email, if that is more convenient) and discuss with you the strengths / weaknesses and commercial potential of your idea
• Recommend to you the best course of action for you to follow

 Likely 'Recommended courses of action' could be:

• Don't put any money into this (if we find existing competitor products, patents etc..)
• It's a good idea, best developed as a start-up business
• It's a good idea, best developed by licensing
• It's a good idea, but you need partners, and here are the ways we could help
• It's a good idea, and we would like to offer you a Development Partnership Agreement

For innovations that we judge to have particularly good commercial potential, we may be able to offer you a Development Partnership Agreement. Such an agreement would set out how we would work together to develop the product, without any charge for our time, but in return for an agreed share in the future profits. Since we only receive payment upon the commercialisation of the product, we do have to be selective about which innovations we commit our resources to, although we will certainly consider all ideas that come our way. 

There are other ways of progressing innovations that can be more suitable. One example of an organisation that we refer clients to and work with is The microFunding Exchange.  This is a way of bringing together inventors, managers and investors and we can help you present a good case to organisations like this. Alternatively, you may be able to get help from the Business Link organisation in your area.

Our objective is simply to give you the benefit of our experience in commercialising new products, and the best advice for the next steps to take... 

What we're looking for

Whilst we are happy to review innovations from a diverse range of industries, the 'contingent upon success' Development Partnership Agreement scheme works best for innovations that:

• Are physical, tangible products, either already having or capable of obtaining a UK patent.
• Originate from an individual rather than a company.

How we operate

• If you've got a new product idea that you would like us to review, then please follow the link to the Invention Registration Form to register your details and make an online payment of £65 to purchase the evaluation service. 
• On receipt of payment we'll issue you with a confidentiality agreement  
• We'll arrange and hold an initial meeting to review the innovation with you and provide advice on progression routes, where applicable