Wanted: the best ideas in Britain!

We want to put your idea into production...

...we want to put it in the shops...

...we want to put it on the telly!

"Why doesn't anybody make a gadget to...?"

How many times have you had an idea for a great product?
How many times have you thought "Why doesn't anybody make one of those?"
How many times have you done anything about it?

Did you know that British inventors are among the best in the world? We're responsible for more than half the world's invention patents! And yet, our best ideas either never get developed or else have to go abroad to find investment.

It's about time we showed British industry - and the rest of the world - what we're made of! So, here at Two Little Ducks, we're looking for the best ideas in Britain. We want to turn every one into real, commercial, money-making products. Your idea could be among the success stories of 2005!

Every great invention starts with an idea. You could be sitting on a fortune!

The "Eurekacademy!" competition.

We want to turn every good idea in Britain into a great new product. To do that, we're launching this unique competition. Over the course of a year, we're going to work together, developing your skills and your idea into the final production form. If you don't yet know everything you need to make your good idea into a great success, that's no problem - over the year of the competition, we're going to teach you all you need to know to be a successful inventor. Between us, we're going to take your idea, we're going to make it better, we're going to make it work, and we're going to make it sell - step by step.

How it works.

We're looking for the best ideas in Britain. They don't need to be hugely clever, and they don't need to be fully developed - in fact, the earlier you are in the invention process, the easier you'll find the competition.

The competition lasts a year, and will be constructed in a series of rounds (full details of each round are in the rules). Some rounds won't apply to your invention, so in that case you'll have a bye. I'll tell you about those in a moment.

At each round you'll be required to

learn some skills, then
apply those skills to your invention, then
provide evidence of your new skills, and how you've successfully applied them to your invention.

For example, round ??? is the prototype round (Practically every invention will need a prototype, so this round won't ever be a bye). You'll have to learn sufficient skills to make a prototype of your invention, then you'll have to make it, then you'll have to show your prototype to us.

At the end of each round, you'll be assessed by our panel of experts. They will decide whether

"Yes" - you're through to the next round.
"No" - you're out of the competition.
"Maybe" - you're not good enough for a yes, but you get a second chance. We will provide you with some extra help and training, and may even invite you to our offices for some face-to-face training and consultancy. Then you'll get another crack at the round.

As you can see, it's while you're re-doing a round after a maybe that you get all the benefit of the competition! That's where you get the training, that's where you get the new skills and insights. The trouble is, when you're re-doing a round, you're falling behind the other competitors. That's what the byes are for - to give you a chance to catch up!

As the competition develops, the tasks we set you in each round become progressively tougher, and so there will be more maybes. There will be more byes as well, so you'll get more chance to benefit from the training. That's as it should be: only the strongest ideas and the strongest players will make it to the final rounds, and they're the people who will get most help. But beware: you don't have an unlimited supply of byes - if you keep getting maybes, you'll fall behind and you'll be out of the competition anyway.

What we're looking for:

Since this is a competition about invention, and by definition inventions are completely new, we can't really tell you exactly what we want! But we are looking for ideas that have certain characteristics:

They need to be the kind of ideas that will make great products. We're not looking for butterfly mincers or telephone handset ejectors - nobody wants such things.
They need to be practical inventions - no teleporters or robotic butlers. As you'll see, you'll only have a year to get it right.
They need to be your own original work - either yours alone, or your team's - and it must still be secret! (Part of what we're going to do is get your idea patented, and if it's not completely your secret, that won't be possible.)
They must be capable of physical manufacture, in some way (though, in some circumstances, software is acceptable). You can't patent a new way of swinging on a swing, and you couldn't possibly sell it to anyone!
They must be legal, decent, and non-military. We're not going to help you develop anything illegal, obscene, or dangerous.

But, within those stipulations, almost anything goes! You can develop problem-solving gadgets, industrial processes, alternative energy sources, toys and games - anything you can think of!

The categories:

There are five categories of entry:

Under 16s / School teams	Individuals or teams where *all* members of the team are below the age of 16. Teams may be fielded by schools, and in this case the team may be assisted by one adult teacher (when special rules will apply)
Consumer products	Individuals or teams where at least one member of the team is an adult. Inventions should solve a recognisable problem or fulfil a clear need, and will be intended to be mass-produced for sale to its consumers
Industrial products	Individuals or teams where at least one member of the team is an adult. Inventions should solve a recognisable problem or fulfil a clear need, and will be intended for sale to a small number of industrial customers
Toys and games	Individuals or teams where at least one member of the team is an adult. Games should have a clear metaphor and gameplay. Toys should have a recognisable play mode, and should be novel (that is, merchandising or branding an existing class of toy won't do it.).
Novelties and joke inventions	Individuals or teams without any age restriction. Inventions are not required to solve any real problem or fulfil any need (actually, the more useful it is, the less good the idea!), but there should be a reasonable chance of it selling.

The winners.

This competition is unlike most you will be familiar with in that there isn't a single first prize on offer, or even a specific number of prizes. We will award the prizes to every one of the ideas which deserve it! We're expecting there to be about ten, but there may be more, and there may be less.

Successful ideas will not necessarily be the ideas which are the very best at the beginning of the competition. Very strong ideas may get eliminated earlier in the competition either because they're not the kind of ideas we're looking for, or because the competition won't help to make them any more successful. Ideas which are not very promising at the beginning will improve as they pass through each round. The finalists will be the ideas and the competitors who have benefited most from being in the competition. These are the ideas which, from their simple roots, have turned into the world-leading, hold-onto-your-hat ideas which manufacturers want to sell.

The purpose of the competition is to find the very best ideas, and get them into production - making profit for everyone involved. The final round of the competition is to place the ideas into manufacture. The winners will, of course, be the people whose ideas appear in the shops, and whose inventions become household names!

What happens to the ideas that get eliminated?

The purpose of the competition is to help everyone learn about invention. If you're unfortunate enough to be eliminated, we'll try to give you a full explanation of why. You'll then have several options:

You'll have an opportunity to fix up whatever we've told you about, and you'll be free to re-enter the same idea in next year's competition.
If you prefer, you'll be able to develop your idea on your own account, entirely independent of the competition.
It may be that your idea is eliminated not because it is a bad idea, but because it requires time, effort, or resources which are not suitable for this competition. You will be able to use the services of professional support companies, including Two Little Ducks, to develop your idea on a larger playing field than the competition would allow.

OK, I want to enter. What do I do now?

First and foremost, at this point you must keep your idea secret. Even we don't want to know what it is yet! The first thing you should do is read the rules and request the entry form. The entry form will be sent by email - you can prepare it in your own time and then send it back to us electronically. (Note that there is no alternative paper-based entry form . The competition will be conducted largely through email, and you must have reliable email access to enter.)

Please note the time limits: For the 2005 Eurekacademy, you must request the entry form before 30th September 2004, and you must have submitted the completed form by 30th November 2004 at the very latest. Don't wait until the last minute! If you get your entries in earlier, we will begin to process them earlier, and you'll have more time in the later stages of the competition.

BIG
SUR

Provisional