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Request an idea direction

Free preliminary invention direction

Describe the problem. We will describe a direction.

Receive a preliminary, field-specific invention direction and a recommended next step. This is exploratory guidance — not a guarantee of novelty, patentability, freedom to operate, or patent grant.

Start the request Read the FAQ first

Three to five minutes · No account needed · Start non-confidential

What you receive
  • One preliminary concept direction for your field
  • The problem and proposed mechanism
  • Differentiators worth investigating
  • Questions that affect novelty or feasibility
  • A recommended next step, including "not yet"
What this is not

Not a prior-art search, patentability opinion, or legal advice. Nothing here creates an attorney–client or agent–client relationship, and no filing or right is created by submitting this form.

Intake

Tell us where you are starting

Seven short groups. You can move back at any point, and your answers are kept in this browser until you submit or clear them.

Before you describe anything

Start with a non-confidential overview.

Do not include trade secrets, enabling technical details, or unpublished claim language in this form unless you have reviewed our confidentiality terms and are using the detailed brief route.

We handle every submission as confidential business information and never publish it or use it as an example without your written permission. Confidentiality is ultimately a matter of contract: if your material needs formal protection before you share it, tell us in the last step and we will set up a confidentiality agreement before you send anything further.

Read the confidentiality summary, privacy notice, and disclaimer.

Publication is a deadline. If a paper, thesis, poster, demo, or product launch is already scheduled, tell us the date in step 4. Public disclosure before filing affects rights differently in different countries, and some options close permanently.

Who is asking

So we can reply, and so we pitch the answer at the right level.

Your reference code and next step go here.
Which describes you best?
If your institution may own rights in the work, this matters early.

Your field

Any field. If none of these fit, the last option lets you write your own.

The problem

This is the most useful part of the form. Plain language beats technical language here.

A few sentences is plenty. Describe what fails today and under what conditions.
Including approaches that failed. Failures are often where the invention is.

What you are starting with

This decides how much of the answer can be concrete.

Pick the closest description
High level only. Leave out enabling detail, formulations, source code, and claim language.
Has any of this been made public?

What would help most

Choose as many as apply, or tell us you are not sure and we will recommend a path.

What are you looking for?
Optional, and it never changes the quality of the answer. It helps us suggest a sequence you can actually afford.

Review and consent

Check what you are sending, then choose what you agree to. Nothing is pre-ticked.

Consent
Before you submit

Submitting this form does not create an attorney–client or agent–client relationship, does not file anything, and does not create or preserve any right. A preliminary direction is exploratory and is not a patentability opinion.

Prefer to talk first? Contact us without describing your idea, or read what to check before you publish.