Where can you find invention ideas? There are plenty of opportunities to find new ideas for inventions. You just need to keep your eyes out for them. Here is how!
Look for problems. A problem is the seed of an invention idea. If you can solve a real world problem, you will likely have an invention. If it is a problem that people with money have, they will give you their money to solve their problem. That is a recipe for success!
Make an existing product better, cheaper, stronger, safer, faster, etc. Or you can give it more features? An existing product has the advantage of already having a market. An improved product can make it more profitable and extend its life. Huge companies get new ideas like this all the time. The product that you improve doesn't even have to be your product. Improving a competitor's product can add a product to your salable products. Just be careful not to violate their patents.
Methods are ways of doing things and they can be new inventions, too. If an improved method can save time, labor and/or money, it can be a boon to your organization and maybe you can license the method to others. This is particularly true if the procedure must be repeated many times.
James Levoy Sorensen was a model inventor. As a pharmaceutical salesman, he would observe physicians struggling to deliver healthcare. He would spend much of his time observing surgeries. He took their problems to heart and turned them into new invention ideas. From that vantage he invented medical devices that revolutionized operating rooms and intensive care units. His inventions included real-time computerized heart monitoring systems, disposable surgical masks, non-invasive intravenous catheters, and blood-recycling and -infusion systems. When he died at age 86, he had received 40 patents and had founded several medical device companies. What an impact he has had in our lives and for those we love.
If you can develop an inventor's mentality like James Levoy Sorensen did, the invention ideas will flow. When the new ideas come, you must pursue them to get a patent. Without a patent, you will likely never benefit from your new invention.
