The Institute of Inventors and Innovators (III) is a non-profit organisation which aims to support entrepreneurs, inventors and innovators in their challenges to get their ideas to commercialisation. It works on a membership basis and, once joined, a member gains a lifetime membership, meaning no annual membership renewal fees are payable.
The III offers a service known as Pitch-It-To-The-Panel (PITTP), which is a platform for inventors and innovators to share their ideas in confidentiality with experts hailing from various technical and commercial fields. The panelists typically include successful entrepreneurs and inventors, intellectual property specialists, marketing specialists, industrial designers, scientists, electric/electronic specialists, and IT specialists to name but a few disciplines. The idea of the PITTP is to provide an inventor with the opportunity to get as much valuable advice as possible from the panel of experts in order to put the inventor on the road to commercialisation of his/her idea. Rina Gunter and Christina Louw are both panelists for the PITTP sessions and, when presenting his/her idea during the PITTP session, we provide the inventor with advice on the intellectual property aspects which he/she needs to think about. The PITTP is held approximately 5 times per year with the next one happening on 29 February 2020.
The III also provides monthly meetings during which volunteer experts and specialists from various fields present on a topic of relevance to entrepreneurs. The next Eureka!Meet is scheduled for 15 January 2020 at “Made in Workshop”, 65 Maria Street, Fountainebleau, Randburg at 19:15, at which our own Rina Gunter will be presenting a lecture on patent protection. We will address questions such as what is a patent, do I need to register a patent to protect my idea, do I need a patent lawyer to file a patent, what are the patent costs, how long does a patent last, is a South African patent valid overseas, and much more! Attendance at the Eureka!Meet is free of charge, but space is limited. If you are interested in attending, please contact Henry Levine on 083 269 2195 to reserve your seat. The Eureka!Meet is also an excellent opportunity to network and make new business contacts.
If you would like more information about the III and any of their services, please visit www.iii.org.za.
