From Bright Idea to Product Testing: The Role of Inventions Exhibitions

Inventor seeks entrepreneur

Jean-Marie Schatt, an engineer and manager of a small company specializing in heat exchangers, is a typical representative of a "small inventor." He presented his thermoturbine at the 2005 Brussels Eureka Exhibition in the form of an ingeniously simple prototype, consisting of a bicycle wheel, bottles and water-filled circular tube, with halogen lamps providing a heat source. The device, in effect a Stirling (?) engine reduced to its simplest expression, is designed to convert heat energy from any source – primary or recovered – into rotary energy. Mr. Schatt compares the efficiency of his invention to the energy lost in the exhaust fumes of conventional engines, citing the positive views of thermodynamic engineering experts whom he had consulted as to its expected output.

But from principle to practice is a long way. "I have reached the limits of what I can do myself," said Mr. Schatt, explaining his presence at the Eureka exhibition. "I am now seeking a partner interested in developing the concept and the industrial and commercial application of the thermoturbine."

This, indeed, is the main purpose of invention fairs - to bring together investors in search of innovative products, processes or ideas, with inventors seeking entrepreneurs to enable them to commercialize their inventions.

It is not without risk. By the very fact of exhibiting, the inventor runs the risk of having his idea copied by others and receiving nothing in return. So prior to participating in an exhibition, it is important to analyze the situation carefully and take appropriate protection measures. – In Mr. Schatt’s case, a Belgian patent application.

New IP Procedure at China Hi-Tech Fair

* Organizers of the China Hi-Tech Fair in Shenzhen last year adopted a special procedure to protect and manage the intellectual property (IP) rights of exhibitors. As a condition of participation, all exhibitors were required to sign a commitment to respect the IP rights of fellow exhibitors, and to accept mediation in the event of any IP rights disputes. Two disputes were satisfactorily resolved in this way at the October 2005 Fair. "In the past exhibitors quarreled and even fought in the hall," one of the organizers explained in a press statement. "This year, disputes were solved smoothly." The...