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University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Inventor Interview

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The interview with your case manager gives you an opportunity to explain your invention.

You play a critical role in the disclosure process and can be of great help to OTD in making the best possible commercial evaluation of your invention. You know your technology better than anyone else and are likely to be in the best position to define your invention's economic and commercial advantages. The interview with your case manager gives you an opportunity to explain your invention and help OTD determine whether it should be accepted for patenting.

To assist your case manager in planning for your meeting, it would help to have available any publications, abstracts, theses, etc. that relate to the invention, including draft manuscripts; in addition, publications and patents describing closely related prior technologies also are useful.

Some key areas in which your case manager will be interested include:

  • Potential commercial applications of your invention. What is it? What can it be used for? What markets or industries might it serve?
  • Commercial advantages of your invention. What does your invention make possible that nothing else does? Does it make something quicker, cheaper, stronger, more accurate? And how valuable are those advantages, either to the end users or producers of the related goods or services?
  • The level of development of the technology. Do you have a prototype? Is this an idea at this point? How much time and money and effort will be required to move this technology into a commercially ready product or service?
  • Companies (including any specific contacts you may have) that may be interested in learning more about your invention. However, you should NOT disclose your technology to anyone before proper intellectual property protection is in place, as this could affect the ability to effectively protect the intellectual property.
  • Your willingness and availability to participate in protection and commercialization. History has shown that, in most cases, the key to the successful commercialization of an invention is the active support of the inventors. A billion dollar market does not necessarily have to be awaiting the product, but there does typically need to be some industrial or entrepreneurial interest in obtaining rights to develop a commercial product, collaborating with industry in performing further R&D in hopes of realizing the invention's value, or even in forming a startup company to pursue the market opportunity.