Ideas are suddenly big business. The Internet allows people to share their
brainwaves in an instant—and check on their originality using search
engines like Google. But not everyone wants to be bothered with checking and
commercialising their ideas: some just want to cash in quickly on the light
bulbs that appear above their heads, and leave the legwork and the—let’s
face it—remote possibility of megabucks to others. Stepping into the fray
comes www.ideadollar.com run by British-Canadian entrepreneur Mark Turrell, who
used to sell software that computerised “suggestion box” schemes. His site joins
more corporate-oriented Internet ideas machines like www.yet2.com and
www.hellobrain.com.
Turrell says ideadollar pays users for their ideas in what he calls
“i-dollars”—effectively gift vouchers “worth at least one real dollar” for
spending at places like www.amazon. com, www.art.com and others yet to be
announced. If Turrell’s team manages to sell your idea on, he promises you up to
15 per cent of the profits. But inventors beware: revealing all means you are
disclosing your invention—which in most countries (including Britain)
could make your idea unpatentable.
Of the ideas proposed since ideadollar switched on its webserver in March,
around half are for improvements to consumer products, says Turrell. Others he
describes as lifestyle-oriented. One user proposes that women’s tennis tops
should have a sports bra built-in, while another, inspired by a particularly
dishevelled lecturer, suggests that suits should be sold with a “how to wear a
suit properly” guide stuffed in the pocket.
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Netropolitan couldn’t let Turrell go without finding out the wackiest idea
so far. “We gave our $1000 Golden Lightbulb Award to one guy for his
invention of a `comedy gadget filled urinal’,” he says. “It gives men something
to do when they’re peeing, like sinking a small model battleship or ringing a
bell.” Now that’s progress.
