Danielle Ellis:

Morning Joanne, welcome to the UKRC Get set women blog. You have a brilliant story, developing your own ideas and product ranges. Could you tell me about what stages you have to go through to get a product/ invention to market?

thanks Danielle

Rachel:

Hi Joanne, do you think that ipr can sometimes prevent a product reaching the market because it slows down development and makes people too protective to work in collaboration? Also, as a B cup girl I stand in awe of your D+ Perk Ups! How do they stay in place?

Jo:

Hi Danielle. I would recommend websites such as www.gwiin.com ; www.wipo.int/sme/en/ ; www.ipo.gov.uk/ and others which give an overview of intellectual property and taking new products to market.

It is a tough discipline because you need to consider all of the following:
Is it novel? (you need to search the free patent databases (http://ep.espacenet.com/advancedSearch?locale=en_EP) and google methodically and extensively to work that one out; inventive (is it far too obvious based on what has already been published); has an industrial application (more specifically, will someone buy it!); who will fund IP protection, development, marketing and general business costs?; what is the business plan/strategy (you don't need a company to require such a thing!) ; what are the risks? What is the USP?

This does sound like a lot to do, which it is, but like anything, just start with 1 thing at a time and try to fit it around your normal life commitments. Slowly but surely is better than never knowing, right?

Jo:

IPR and protectionism debate......

On Average it takes 6 - 8 years for someone to benefit ultimately from the invention of a new idea. That means a lot of time, money and commitment (this is taken from a business start up perspective, basing that company on a new invention and realising that it takes about that long before a company exits via a trade sale or other mechanism, ultimately releasing the value of the idea). If you are lucky enough to licence, this usually takes 3 - 5 years from idea to getting value.
Without protectionism, who would bother? Because company's would surely sit around and wait to be gifted ideas, and would not have any incentive to reward good ideas. We know this from attempting to licence 'know how' for instance. This is possible, but in my experience, frankly not very practical in all but exceptional circumstances. Remember, that a patent only runs for 20 years, not for ever anyway. Most IP is only for a period of time, which should be enough to extract is value from the person that endeavoured to bring that idea to market. Edison was right - it is in reality 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. - but well worth it!

Jo:

video demonstration of how the Perk Ups work..... please see www.underwearsolutions.com there is a video link for the Perk Ups.

Kate Ho:

Hi Jo,

Your story sounds amazing - it is indeed a unique set of skills you have! I was wondering, were there times where you doubted what you were doing (starting your own business) and how do you cope with the pressures involved in entrepreneurship?

Kate

Ruth Wilson:

HI everyone,

Jo I am really impressed. So often with our guest bloggers I wonder how they get the time to do everything - the same goes for you.

I have a history book of women as inventors over the last 200 years, and women have had a tendency to develop and patent products relevant to the domestic sphere - beauty products, cleaning devices and so on, including of course clothing and lingerie.

I think this trend persists today - and you are a wonderful example. Do you ever reflect on this - that your invention has grown from your expertise as a woman, where clearly you have an advantage over men (who on the whole don't have breasts, for instance....)

Jo:

Hi Kate and Ruth!

In answer to your questions: Pressure is for tyres! (not people) I actually don't suffer from stress I don't think, mainly because I'm confident that I am doing my best at all times, taking the best advice where possible, working within great teams (not alone) and that's all we can expect of ourselves isn't it? If it doesn't work out, it's not personal, it'll just be something to learn from. Learning or failing have something in common - they both make you wiser and able to make better decisions in the future. But not trying in case you fail, will never lead anywhere - ever!

Yes, I think inventing something from the point of view of market need is vital! Women will inevitably be the best judge of what is good for them if they are also the end user. What, however is missing, is a reasonable presence of women in the finance sector. That is a whole other story in fact! But on the whole (with the exception of my wonderful mainly male backers!) there are so few women in finance it is stiffling female inventors. Ultimately, when someone makes a decision about investment or giving a loan to a business idea, gender will definately bias how that idea is viewed. Men like ideas that appeal to men, and women vice versa. Whilst that is not the only driving decision, it is definately an important driver because I have had first hand horror story experience to prove it. We need more women in finance for this reason!

Gemma:

Hi Joanne,

I think your story is brilliant and an inspiration to women scientists. This is very different to previous comments but I was wondering if you would be able to help myself and my colleagues out at all.

As part of International Year of Chemistry 2011 a number of breakfast meetings are being held internationally on 18th January where we will share "A chemical moment in time". A group of 6 female scientists at Strathclyde University are organising such an event at Glasgow Science Centre. We aim to bring together female chemists from a variety of academic and industrial backgrounds at all career stage. Our ideal is to have a strong and inspirational female scientist to share her expereinces in science in both an informative and enjoyable format. We would also like to have an audio-visual link with some of the other meetings around the world to share the experience and guest speakers. Additionally we are planning a networking session after with tea and cake.

Would you be interested at all in supporting such an event or know of friends/colleagues who would be?

Thank you for your time and hope to hear from you soon,

Gemma

Jo:

Hi Gemma, why don't you email the UKRC (Tamsin Spain in particular) and ask for my email (if I put it on here I could get a lot of spam!)? We can then discuss. Thanks. Jo

Tamsin Spain:

Hi Joanne
It's been great having you on the blog these past two weeks. I'll certainly be passing your advice onto other women who are thinking of setting up a business. When you gave the talk in Derby a couple of weeks ago I was impressed at how calm you were, even though you had had to cross a few 'barriers' to get there that day. In your presentation, I liked what you said about stress - 'there's no point getting stressed - just get on with it' (or something similar).
All the best
Tamsin