Engineers and scientists have the education and training to invent, and their inventions could become income-producing businesses for them as well as for wealthy investors. When you ask an engineering student or an engineer, "what do engineers do?" They often respond by saying engineers solve problems, fix problems, design things, model things and systems, create mathematical models, and many other things along the same lines. They rarely consider themselves to be inventors. Desire for inventing and patenting know-how In fall 2017 and spring 2018, I surveyed engineering students in two different Auburn University engineering classes about their interest in inventing and patenting. Table 1: SURVEY Interest in inventing and patenting among engineering students Auburn University 2017-2018 Number surveyed and responses = n = 45 ------------------------------------------------------- Question ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Are you an inventor? Yes-10 No-34 (75%) 2. Want to be an inventor? Yes-42 (93%) 3. Know how to write/get patent? No-40 (89%) 4. Can afford a patent attorney? No-41 (91%) 5. Like to apply Patent yourself? Yes-42 (93%) -------------------------------------------------------- The survey’s results in Table 1 are very revealing.
In the US, the US Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO) allows AFFORDABLE patent applications by individual pro se inventor-applicants (pro se applicants apply for patents themselves without the services of patent attorneys). I will address how this done in a future Blog post. Several chapters of my book, Engineering Entrepreneurship from Idea to Business Plan teach inventing and affordable patenting as pro se patent applicants.
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