What to think about when inventing?
The innovation process raises all kinds of questions.
Is your idea new?
An important question when inventing is whether your idea is new. Does your invention already exist? If so, you can quit your innovation journey or perhaps improve on an existing invention. Or contact the patent holder to collaborate and take out a licence.
Read more about whether your idea is new
How do you finance your research, production and beyond?
At Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) you will find various funding options, for example credits and tax schemes. You can use these to save on labour costs or finance equipment, for example. You can find more information on our funding page and in the subsidy and funding guide.
Costs
Want to get an idea of how much a patent costs? Consult:
- the cost page and/or
- the fee overview.
How will you protect your intellectual property?
You can protect some ideas with a patent but other forms exist. With design rights or copyright, for example, or you keep it secret. Which protection qualifies depends on the nature of your idea.
Note that if you want to apply for a patent, you must keep your invention secret until the time of application.
Read more about:
- the forms of intellectual property rights, and
- when to apply for a patent (in Dutch).
Better chances to receive funding through IP rights
Did you know that startups that apply for a patent or other form of intellectual property right (IP right) early on, are up to 10 times more likely to receive funding than startups that do not? Read the study (pdf) by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) on how IP rights help innovative startups get funding to develop their ideas into market-ready products and services.
Who has the right to the invention?
If you make an invention in employment, who has the intellectual rights and gets the patent? You or your boss? And what should you regulate if you start collaborating with others?
Read more about:
Secrecy during development
Until the moment you apply for a patent, you must keep your invention secret. If your invention is already known - even by your own actions - your patent will be worth little. Indeed, someone who infringes it can then rightly argue that the patent is not valid.
Read more about secrecy (in Dutch)
Questions about patents?
If you need more information on how to apply for a patent in the Netherlands, please contact the public information office.
- Ministry of Economic Affairs
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