Thank you for your expressed interest in the new Barter and Aid Project designed to provide registered inventors and entrepreneurs with EXCLUSIVE access to a NEW VIRTUAL INNOVATION HUB where they may obtain FREE start-up and development services to further their ideas, products, and businesses.   To be considered for participation, please read the instructions below and complete the embedded electronic survey form.  

The premise of the Barter and Aid project is to fill existing voids within innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems by providing inventor-specific services that are comprehensive and will lead to actual product/business development and/or commercialization.

We understand that the innovation process can prove so daunting and exhausting on the front-end that many often abandon their great ideas simply because of the complexities in attempting to research, locate, and secure services, programs, and funding while developing the expertise needed to take an idea to the next level. It’s common for inventors to become frustrated and overwhelmed and experience early fatigue that often results in the permanent abandonment of great ideas or their postponement for numerous years. Thus, fewer innovations are developed than could be had comprehensive inventor/entrepreneurial resources been made readily available, easily accessible, and publicly known in a “centralized” place.

The goal of the Barter and Aid Project is to make the inventing process easier by addressing longstanding, ongoing gaps within innovation eco-systems which too often fail to offer sufficient procedural, step-by-step guidance to navigate through the entire innovation and business development process. The I.N.C. believes that if general information, start-up and development services, along with human assistance related to inventing process tasks were made readily and regularly available to aid innovators at different phases of development, many could be positioned to reduce standard 3-5 year product development and business start-up timelines to 1-2 years.

The B&A project is designed to serve as a one-stop-shop for innovators by offering comprehensive services and increased access to human resources in a centralized place. The objective is to set each participant on an accelerated, individually customized path to development and commercialization by facilitating access to an exclusive virtual innovation HUB. The Second 50 selected participants will be provided an opportunity to network with and receive FREE aid from knowledgeable volunteer service providers from different industries (services such as graphic/CAD designs, prototypes, 3D printing, patent drawings, web page designs, mechanical engineering/testing, scientific research, mathematical calculations, blueprints, market/product research, crowdfunding videos, licensing sell sheets, marketing materials, and more).

Through the program, participants will be able to secure multiple FREE or extremely low-cost, quality services from different volunteer service providers when they want and as often as they need. Each will be able to easily access “human resources and aid” and receive immediately applicable solutions that will reduce their R&D and start-up costs while remove other barriers that have prevented the further development of their great ideas and/or business launches.

Know that each inventor’s experience and outcomes will be different and based upon one's individual knowledge, level of development, existing resources, time availability, complexity/mechanics of their product, and other factors. However, at minimum, participants will receive valuable, prompt support that will further their ideas along an accelerated  and customized innovation path to becoming prototyped, licensed, manufactured, and/or production-ready.

Below, a questionnaire has been provided for each of you to complete to best and fully communicate your past, current, and most urgent needs as it relates to fully developing your idea, product, or business. This is your chance to ensure that the “inventor voice” is both fully and finally heard. Moreover, it presents an opportunity for you to convey “your” specific innovation and development needs and to start customizing your innovation road map to success. So, though there is no penalty for skipping certain questions, please be encouraged to respond to each one to ensure that all of your current and future needs are considered and met.

In addition, comment boxes have been provided at the end of the survey. They are designed to afford each of you an opportunity to share as much detail about your inventor journey, challenges, successes, failures, expenses, etc. to help us and other organizations (ex. USPTO, SBA, etc.) appreciate and understand the plight of the everyday inventor and shortcomings of existing programs and services. Please complete as much as you are comfortable with sharing. Results from the survey will help us identify the common, unique, and most immediate needs of innovators and help you to avoid common pitfalls and unnecessary expenditures during the early stages of your product development. Hence, the more we know, the better we are positioned to help you.

Moving forward, know that if you do not have any IP protection for your idea or product, you should avoid providing any “detailed or proprietary information” about your innovation. Instead, be discreet and provide only general information about your idea. However, if you have registered IP for your idea or product, be encouraged to share as much as you’re comfortable with, but, also be advised to limit your disclosures as well (as this survey simply serves as a needs assessment and not a product review). Also, individual information obtained from the survey will not be shared externally, only an aggregate of results will be communicated with funders and/or service providers as needed (ex. 40 out of 50 participants don’t have IP or need patent drawings, logos, 3D prints, prototypes, etc.). Hence, your identifying information will not be shared except to facilitate your match with the service provider that YOU choose.

Know that this detailed survey simply represents an earnest effort to position you to “help us help you” remove obstacles that have prevented you from fully developing your idea(s). So, be encouraged to answer as many questions as you can and skip those that do not apply. Once you have completed your form, simply press the submit button. You should receive a confirmation of a successful submission and a full copy of the completed form. We look forward to working with and for you!

NOTE: We ask that you submit your response within 2 weeks of your receipt if you’d like immediate review and consideration for selection in late September.