Coming up with new ideas is often described as the easy bit. Finding out if they have been thought of before, how to protect them and then how to commercialise the idea is the hard bit.

The Guernsey Enterprise Agency  has an arrangement with David Stanley of Stanleys, a company based in Alderney (www.stanleys.co.uk) for him to come to Guernsey, for free, on the first Tuesday of each month, to talk to Inventors about their ideas and how to protect them. David Stanley is a Patent Attorney and his business specialises in Patent and Trade Mark registration.

If you would like to meet David on one of his regular visits then email us at info@gea.gg or call us on 710043 to arrange an appointment.

We also have an arrangement with Mark Jaques, who is based in the UK. Mark specialises in helping people take their ideas and inventions and turning them into commercial reality. Mark can be called in once the invention is fully protected and can then assist the inventor with deciding how they want to capitalise on their invention, that being either carrying out the manufacturing and sales yourself or licensing the idea out or selling it to someone else.

He also gave us access to his Inventors Ideas Tool which you can find on the following link. This is designed to give you a helpful checklist of what Inventors need to do.

http://www.business-kit.co.uk/innovation/run/demoidea.aspx

The life of an Inventor can be very lonely and it is difficult to know who to turn to for help. So share your idea with us and we will help you take the steps that might turn your dreams into reality.

However a word of warning. There are a lot of people out there who claim that they can help take your idea forward. That route can prove very expensive. Don’t talk to anyone about your idea until you have spoken to us. If you have to, get them to sign a confidentiality agreement before you do. The protection of your idea is paramount and you shouldn’t share it with anyone until you are fully protected.

Remember the services of the Guernsey Enterprise Agency are confidential and free.