RE: "I am also an Engineer by profession & am surprised you suggest it is a profession that does not promote creativity! "

Well I am an engineer also and I can see where the OP is coming from. Yes a company may want “creativity” but only within the narrow confines ofachieving their present business plans. Many companies are focused on one and one only thing (not a bad thing to do!) and have no interest in branching out in other areas or ""distractions".

My first job out of college (long ago) was with a large company (still around) and they did what at that time was considered a ‘novel’ idea – every year they held an “ideas submission” period. The idea did not have to be in line with their present business plans but it would need to be something that could leverage their areas of technological expertise. If your idea was adopted by the company you’d get some financial reward but not a a slice of the profits.

That was a pretty rare thing back then and I suspect its fairly non-existent at companies now (although I’d like to hear of any companies doing something like that.)

I am also an Engineer by profession & am surprised you suggest it is a profession that does not promote creativity! Whilst individual employers might be process or procedure focussed your engineering background gives you a huge advantage over many other inventors.

For example I wrote my own patent applications and did all my own illustrations using CAD. Saved me a fortune. Although none are commercially viable as yet it has allowed me to explore this as a ‘hobby’ without giving up a day job. Additionally I first toyed with innovations when I spent a great deal of time exploring options for low cost housing for 3rd world applications, particularly the Pacific. Whilst this did not lead to anything tangible (yet!) it is still something that occupies me when watching some mindless reality show.

It is also what got me started thinking of other needs & opportunities, so far I have 3 patents. You background in engineering is not a stumbling block but a ‘tool’ to identify opportunities and explore them.

I used a couple of licensing agents & have been less than impressed so far. I have now started approaching companies myself. Whilst many tell you that impressive brochures & sell sheets are very important, so far the 3 companies I approached all wanted to see the patent document. If I have a positive response, I will invest in a sell sheet & progressively spend more on brochures.

Best wishes.

Thank you for your advice! I understand the legal issues and had a statement signed by our company’s legal counsel for prior inventions that are still in development (or have patents). Also the company has policies allowing invention outside of the company’s time and product realm. I am also aware of the uncertainty of royalty payments and accept this situation, hoping that my advance will help hold me over for a little while plus savings. But I haven’t pursued any licensees as of yet (I want to make sure I have all necessary data and sales projections; I may higher a licensing broker)

There is an old saying “Don’t quit one job until you have another one” As you stated it would not be a good idea to quit your current job until you have more than established yourself financally with your inventions. You mentioned making sure you have established deals so I am assuming you are wanting to license these products. Make sure you understand what that means. If you sign a contract today with a company for a product that is new to the market and has to be built from scratch it can be months to over a year before it goes to market. Once it goes to market you are normally ona quarterly payment schedule which means adding another 3 months before you see money. Okay now the money is coming in. What do you do if your product sells like crazy for the first year and then drops dramaticall the following year? Royalties are not like a 40 hour a week check that is the same every week. You get paid based on that quarters sales. So it can be a roller coaster ride. That is why I have multiple products in multiple industries. If one is going down hopefully another is going up to compensate. I don’t stop coming up with new products because I know eventually they will leave the market and I want others following to take their place. I am in talks with a company about one more product in the toy industry. The cycle never stops if you want to be a full time product developer.

http://www.rogerbrown.net

You may well know this but just to be double certain – make sure that any inventions you pursue during or after leaving your present employment are conflict-free of you employer’s line of business. Carefully review any “intellectual property agreement” or “non-competition policy” you may have signed or been informed of when joining the company.