Just fill out these forms, Mr. Edison...

Exhibition of Inventions: Where crackpot meets genius

It seems so long ago...

I wonder which I was (still am?) last year when I won a Gold Medal (with Jury Congrats)* at the same event.

Even when your 'ideas' are quite down to earth, practical and may even stand a chance of making money as well as 'things better', you do tend to face a steep slope.

But James Dyson is right, the system doesn't make it easy once you start on the journey up, as Jeremy Clarkson also agrees on another page of this edition. Even before you really start, at events such as this.

Because I also recall funding every aspect of my trip by virtue of being English. Meanwhile over the way the lovely, helpful (to me, too.. ta, boyos) chaps on the Welsh Development Agency stand were basking in all the benefits of well-coordinated (and funded) efforts to support and sell both innovation and the consequently valuable IP.

* Check the green RE:tie to see with what.

Times - Time to save the world again, lads

I got my Engineering degree a few years after Brunel, and on the strict understanding that I didn't use it to make anything. I figured this didn't apply to inventing some stuff, which was lucky, as it is how I came to win a Gold Medal at The Geneva Inventions Show mentioned in the complementary InGear Gizmo article to this. It was nice, but hasn't made life too much easier.

I wish I was young enough** to be eligible to catch James Dyson's eye, as the the system doesn't make it easy at any age once you start on the journey to market.

Because I also recall funding every aspect of my trip by virtue of being English. Meanwhile over the way the lovely, helpful (to me, too.. ta, boyos) chaps on the Welsh Development Agency stand were basking in all the benefits of well-coordinated (and funded) efforts to support and sell both innovation and the consequently valuable IP.

I wonder if the Yanks may fancy it? Don't know how they stack up in the originality stakes, but they sure know how to make an idea not only work, but also some money.

**Maybe I could lie about my age? Nah... that wouldn't be legal. And anyway as readers of this blog will gather from my adventures to date, it's only certain folk who can have ideas or need help with 'em, apparently.

Who's a clever boy then?

Well, I'm back.
Actually, I have been since Monday, but for reasons that will hopefully become apparent, have been a tad busy elsewhere dealing with the backlog that built up during the Geneva trip... and the consequences of it. Because....

I won. And I won big!



Here's the press release that has been prepared, and I am touting around as we speak to try to make the most of it while it is fresh.


‘Hole-in-one’ for award-winning Herefordshire inventor Ross-on-Wye inventor Peter Martin has been awarded a Gold Medal at the International Exhibition of Inventions held in Geneva last weekend… for a small hole in a strip of plastic. His patented Re:tie concept is simple, but shows just what you can achieve from an inventive approach to recycling. Peter has redesigned the security closure strip used in many drinks bottles and jars, by introducing a block with a hole. This means the strip can be saved and reused as a tie, in the garden, for cabling, for bags – for anything which needs tying together. Peter took his invention to Geneva with his company Junkk.com, and won the Award against stiff competition from the world’s top inventors and major R&D institutions. The international Judges were so impressed with the simplicity and potentially wide application of the eco-design tie that they awarded Gold, and several have subsequently congratulated him by email. ‘It’s one of those “Why didn’t anyone think of this before?” ideas,’ says Peter, whose free website Junkk.com has been created to share how virtually any potentially discardable item can be reused. “I am proud to win such a prestigious award for myself, my company and the UK, but I am particularly thrilled that it was noted for its environmental impact, and potential positive contribution to commercial eco-design. When you are in a place like Switzerland and surrounded by eco-inventions from the likes of Germany and Asia, it is good to show we Brits are creating consumer-friendly solutions that need not incur or impose additional costs.” The RE:tie may be a small change to a piece of plastic, but every little bit helps when it comes to reducing waste and helping save the planet. The Re:tie will also bring manufacturers considerable green-£-based benefits as Peter intends to license the concept for commercial use. He is also hoping to turn the commercial and public interest in RE:tie into further official support for his free re:use ideas website initiative Junkk.com – which offers people a way to exchange second use ideas for all sorts of products and packaging. “After immense interest and support from the 70,000 international visitors to the show, I'd like to accelerate my plans to expand the site into other languages, and establish its postcode localisation facility into other countries.” Peter is now seeking investors for RE:tie, especially if he is to fight off imitations despite his patent: “It would be a pity not to exploit this idea worldwide from a British base. I'd like to see it not only on an Innocent juice carton here, but a jar of jam in China and a bottle of pop in the US, too’.

So, a lot of work to do. I'm trying to get help to protect the idea from the likes of the BusinessLink, UKTI and various government agencies, and of course support from the media.

Both are proving an effort.

I know business help takes time, but it can be frustrating to wade through the systems. There is so much that is in theory on offer, but finding it and making use of it demands a lot of time and inside knowledge which I don't have.

Then there is the media.

I am getting some coverage, but in a week when waste and packing is all over the media, from the Indy to the Daily Mail (who shamelessly seem to have copied the Indy's campaign, not that it was that original or skillfully applied), the level of interest so far (with a few notable, and appreciated, exceptions) has been about what I'd expect from our mighty 4th estate.

And now I watch BBC's Declan in a 5 minute slot* on the same thing. Having already queried their addiction to giving free PR to ASDA, I guess it wouldn't help to wonder why the majority of the slot was about 'an initiative' in 'a few stores', whereby customers are asked to put packs in a bin 'for analysis'. Hmn. Does it it wash as a real, credible attempt? And does the BBC's coverage count as valid, skillful reporting?

Maybe I haven't yet sussed out the secret to getting coverage in this new media age.

*BBC - Tough packaging fines are urged - Check out the vid top right: nice ad for ASDA guys!

Swiss Adventure

Just to let you know that I will be blogging off shortly for a while in Switzerland to attend the 35th International Exhibition of Inventions, New Techniques and Products in Geneva. I think we'll call it the Geneva Invention Show from hereon in.

I am exhibiting an actual invention I have patented called the RE:Tie, which was inspired by Junkk.com and is a unique (I hope), new (I trust), solution (bank balance at the ready, fingers crossed) to offer packagers/fmcg manufacturers/retailers a way to offer a second use for an aspect of their packs to consumers to boost sales, offer better PR, make 'em smug at CSR report time during the AGM and, oh, I don't know, help save the planet, too.

Wish me luck!

Back Monday, whereupon I promptly disappear off again to London to speak at another invention 'do', this time the Global Women's Inventor & Innovator Network Awards at the DTI