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AUSTRALIA is in the midst of an innovation surge, with the federal government committed to spend $1.1 billion within the next four years to drive the national 'ideas boom.'
Brad Postma of Cullens Patent & Trademark Attorneys believes that Queensland is leading this innovation charge, having dubbed the state 'by far and away the most inventive' in his recent article The secret to making money from an invention.
According to Postma innovation is recession-proof, which is why down-turning or volatile industries including mining and building have now become ripe for new concepts.
"When times are tough people are forced to innovate," says Postma.
"At the moment we have the government committing money to innovation and an economy which is dragging its heels, so I think the time is right for new ideas to come forward.
"For example, commercially the mining industry is performing quite badly but the innovation boom in mining is doing extremely well because everybody is looking for the competitive edge."
Postma notes that Queenslanders file more provisional patent applications for new inventions per capita than people in any other state.
He believes that although the government is investing heavily, most disrupting Queenslanders aren't chasing the dollar bill alone.
"The vast majority of people who walk into my office aren't motivated by incentives at all they are motivated either to build, or to improve," says Postma.
"I think there is something intrinsic in humans which inspires us to produce improvement, and in terms of Queensland I think that there's just more people willing to give it a go up here."
Postma believes that anybody has the potential to create ideas that will make a market splash.
"If you are opportunity minded, and you spot a great gap, you have every chance of making a successful invention," he says.
"Every industry has the potential for growth, and there are new industries arising every day."
For anybody interested in turning their ideas into a reality, Postma recommends finding a good problem to solve, developing a simple solution and then protecting the invention from the highly competitive market.
"You need to be aware of the tightening competition," says Postma.
"If ever there was a time without competition, those days are either long gone or disappearing so it's essential that you protect what you can or the business you have today might be gone tomorrow."
To read Brad's article The secret to making money from an inventionclick here
Read more stories from Cullens:
- How to succeed in private practice
- One man's journey beyond the partnership rut
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