Four Hot Inventing Trends

4. Companies are realizing the possibilities of working with inventors. Perhaps the most significant development is the shift that is occurring with manufacturers, who are increasingly open to products from outside inventors. More and more, I'm personally asked by manufacturing peers how they can best work with inventors.

"It's a great time to be a product developer/inventor," agrees Key. "I think it's a better time now because of the TV exposure and the retail environment. A lot of the larger retailers are looking for new ideas for their private label programs -- and they have the shelf space!"

Russo says there's been a shift in the product development process inside large companies. Companies have begun changing their "invented in-house" attitudes, making direct relationships with inventors more common.

"I'm seeing more U.S. companies going back to domestic creation of the concept versus trying to find or develop the concept in China. Some of this can be attributed to the change in the American retail environment," says Russo. "Historically, initial production runs of 50,000 units weren't unusual. Due to shifts in the American retail landscape, U.S. companies have sought smaller initial production runs. I deal with some billion-dollar companies who want to start their production at 3,000 units. One result is that Chinese factories receiving smaller initial runs can no longer economically provide product development services such as engineering and tooling."

Evidence of this open attitude to new ideas also includes a preponderance of corporate-sponsored inventing contests from companies ranging from Whirlpool to Staples to Dial Corp. And another offshoot of the increased interest in domestic inventions is the creation of companies and organizations that help facilitate this process.

With all that's changing in the inventions arena, make sure you always do your homework on business deals and keep the next big idea in mind.