Incubator
’ÄúA place or situation that permits or encourages the formation and development of new ideas.’Äù
Incubator is a flexible and efficient personal authoring tool in which inventors can capture ideas in a manner that is simple and intuitive. Inventors can also include digital files from any authoring tool and store these files in a secure, reliable enterprise document repository that ensures legal protection for included assets as well as content authored in the system. The solution consists of two components, Quick Capture Tool and the web-based component.
Quick Capture Tool
The Incubator’Äôs Quick Capture Tool. Quick capture Tool is a light weight application that resides on the inventor’Äôs desktop or laptop machine, always available with one click. Selecting the quick capture tool will bring up a simple form that allows the inventor to make a submission right to the ELN without minimal interruption to their current work.
The interface for the quick capture tool is as simple as possible, allowing an inventor to create an entry with just a minimal amount of information required. In performing this action, the inventor can designate the entry as a new idea or observed need and enter a brief text description. As part of completing the description, the system enables the ability to attach a related file and incorporate this into the description. The inventor can also identify other team members that he or she collaborated with on the entry, and request feedback from their collegues. To use this functionality, the inventor simply needs to select individual(s) and the system will forward an email message soliciting feedback and providing a link to the idea in our system.
Incubator: web-based component
Main Page Main Page
The main page of the Incubator is divided into two main parts. The larger main area provides the user with a centralized view of all his ideas, projects and needs. The ideas are presented as thumbs of the latest sketches related to that idea. The two sectiosn on the left, "Around MEDRAD", and "Please witness" show the most recent ideas entered by inventors around MEDRAD, and ideas that need to be witnessed respectively.
Idea Overview Page Idea Overview Page
The Idea Overview page gives the inventors an administrative view of their idea. On this page they can view, add and edit their collaborators, the needs their idea meets, and the projects the idea is associated with. In addition, they can view the email correspondence about the idea, and request feedback from their colleagues.
Idea Overview Page Idea View/Edit Page
On this page the user can enter the description of the idea and continue working on it by creating a sequence of entries that correspond to the idea development phases, which we observed them go through as part of their invention process. n each of the five major sections of capturing an idea, the inventor has the ability to both freely create their own text as well as upload an external file that was developed outside of the system. The system also provides a reminder of the types of artifacts that should be documented at each stage of idea development process. By providing these reminders, the system addresses the important legal need to show that intellectual property is developed using a consistent process.
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