Innoventually is the first open innovation and crowdsourcing platform that enables organizations of all sizes to innovate thanks to the support of external resources in a truly automated fashion. You do not need to necessarily be in touch with us if you know what you are looking for, and that is why you can save a lot of time and money by using Innoventually’s platform. You do not need to be a multinational entity to have an open innovation practice. Our packages can accommodate all the needs and pockets.

Innoventually specializes in connecting Sponsors (companies, no-profit organizations, etc.) to Solvers to help them solve their (mostly technical) problems and push the innovation process faster. We do give a lot of value to the intellectual property potentially contained in the solutions, and that is why every challenge has specific provisions on this topic. Some of the challenges provide that a monetary award has to be assigned to the winning solution, and there might be also non-monetary awards as well (e.g. internships, collaboration projects, etc.) offered by the Sponsor. One of the unique features of this platform is that it allows the creation of challenges directly from the Sponsors without the need of being in touch with Innoventually’s team of professionals. This translates into a cheaper and more effective procedure to help you innovate faster.

Sure, if you feel unsure you can manage the process without being helped, you can always contact us and we can set up a call to understand your needs. Just send us a message through the contact form on this website, also available from here.

Sure, we can accommodate your specific needs if you prefer to have a custom challenge (even on an ad hoc website) or you want to create a specific section on our platform for a given industry. Just send us a message through the contact form on this website, also available from here.

The Sponsor is a company, a no-profit organization or any other entity seeking a solution to a problem within the organization. Please refer to the pricing table to see all the different opportunities to engage our crowd of solvers by clicking here.

For general information on how the process works, and the pricing, Sponsors can easily find all the necessary information on this website. If they want to be in touch to be helped when posting a challenge, they can just send us a message through the contact form on this website, also available from here.

Solvers are natural or legal persons interested in providing solutions to current challenges of the Sponsors. They can be researchers, startups, spin-offs, large corporations or simply individuals who have a good idea to bring an innovative idea to the market. If you want to become a Solver, click here.

There are 5 different types of challenges on this platform.

• General Call: the Sponsor is looking for public info (links, documents, etc.). There is no confidential or proprietary information involved;
• Idea Contest: the Sponsor is looking for new ideas, concepts, business proposals. In this case the Sponsor will be the owner of the content of the submission. If there is an existing intellectual property right (e.g. patent/patent application), the Sponsor becomes the holder of a perpetual and exclusive license of the intellectual property rights concerning the selected solution. If a written licence agreement between the Solver and the Sponsor is required, the Solver is obliged to enter into such perpetual and exclusive license agreement concerning the intellectual property rights concerning the selected solution;
• Technical challenge: the Sponsor is looking for a specific solution to a specific technical problem. In this case the Sponsor will be the owner of the content of the submission. If there is an existing intellectual property right (e.g. patent/patent application), the Sponsor becomes the holder of a perpetual and exclusive license of the intellectual property rights concerning the selected solution. If a written licence agreement between the Solver and the Sponsor is required, the Solver is obliged to enter into such perpetual and exclusive license agreement concerning the intellectual property rights concerning the selected solution;
• Demonstrator challenge: the Sponsor is looking for a solution to a specific problem, and wants to receive a prototype or a proof of concept. In this case the Sponsor will be the owner of the content of the submission. If there is an existing intellectual property right (e.g. patent/patent application), the Sponsor becomes the holder of a perpetual and exclusive license of the intellectual property rights concerning the selected solution. If a written licence agreement between the Solver and the Sponsor is required, the Solver is obliged to enter into such perpetual and exclusive license agreement concerning the intellectual property rights concerning the selected solution;
• Social challenge: the Sponsor is looking for new ideas, concepts, business proposals for solving a social issue. In this case the Sponsor will be the owner of the content of the submission. If there is an existing intellectual property right (e.g. patent/patent application), the Sponsor becomes the holder of a perpetual and exclusive license of the intellectual property rights concerning the selected solution. If a written licence agreement between the Solver and the Sponsor is required, the Solver is obliged to enter into such perpetual and exclusive license agreement concerning the intellectual property rights concerning the selected solution;

With the only exception of the General Call (a challenge in which the Solver provides public info to the Sponsor) monetary awards are mandatory, and they have to be paid by the Sponsor after having seen the abstracts of the solutions and decided to see the full text.

Sure, together with the monetary award, when you create a challenge, you can add the non-monetary award as well. It can be an offer to collaborate on a project, an internship, and so forth.

When monetary awards are mandatory, they have to be paid by the Sponsor after having seen the abstracts of the solutions, and only if the Sponsor decides to see the full text. Once the Sponsor decides to pay, a solution has to be selected.

It depends, usually it will take up to a month from the deadline because the Sponsor has to examine all the submissions and it might take some time. You will be notified only if your solution has been selected as the winning one from the Sponsor.

Yes, the platform allows you to make submissions also as a team. If your submission is selected as the winning one, the subject who initiated the team will be the one claiming the award, if provided by the challenge, and it will be his/her responsibility to share evenly the amount of the award with the other team members.

In a General Call the Sponsor is looking for public info (links, documents, etc.). There is no confidential or proprietary information involved. If your solution is the one selected by the Sponsor, we will put you in touch directly with the Sponsor and the relationship between you and the Sponsor will be managed directly by you from that moment on.

You will be notified about the decision of the Sponsor. If you do not have any intellectual property rights (e.g. patents, patent applications) concerning the winning solution, the transfer of ownership will be automatic because the terms are contained in the agreement between you and the Sponsor that you accept when you decide to make a submission. You can claim your payment, and you will receive the payment together with a receipt.

If you do have intellectual property rights (e.g. patents, patent applications) concerning the winning solution, the Sponsor becomes the holder of a perpetual and exclusive license of the intellectual property rights concerning your solution. If a written licence agreement between you and the Sponsor is required, you are obliged to enter into such perpetual and exclusive license agreement concerning the intellectual property rights concerning your solution. If you decide to make a submission, it means you have accepted the award as a fair upfront payment of the license agreement to be signed between you and the Sponsor. If you think the award is not enough, feel free to contact us before the submission, and we will follow the procedure described here.

In this case, when you make a submission, you accept the terms of the platform and of the specific challenge, and you are obliged, in case your solution is the winning one, to be available after the selection to perform all the necessary steps required to file a patent application, if the Sponsor wants to. In that case, you will be in touch with the Sponsor to perform all the necessary activities.

Sponsors are able to see only an abstract of the solutions - except in the case of a General Call since it involves public info - and only if they pay the monetary award, when required, they will be able to see the full content of a submitted solution, which means that there will be one winning solution. Additionally, if your solution is not going to be selected as the winning one, note that in the agreements between the Sponsor and Innoventually, and the Sponsor, and the Solver there is a liquidated damages clause which provides that in case of unlawful utilization of the results contained in a solution that has not been selected as the winning one, the Sponsor will have to pay a pre-determined sum to the Solver. So, Sponsors are highly discouraged to utilize the content of solutions they did not select. At the same time, it might be that the selected solution might contain in whole or in part the content of another solution that has not been selected. In this case, obviously, there is no dispute.

That’s the best part. Once your submission is being selected as the winning one, you will be notified and you will be able to follow the instructions on-line to claim your award. When you register to create an account you will have to provide your PayPal account or bank account info. We will wire the amount directly to your account together with a receipt. Easy, and fast.

It depends on the jurisdiction. Once you get paid, you will also get a receipt about the payment. It’s then your duty to consult a tax expert to understand whether or not you have to pay taxes on the award in your country of residence.

If you think you have already in your hands a potential solution in the form of an intellectual property right (e.g. patent, patent application, etc.) and you think that the award is not enough, feel free to contact us, and we will be able to assess together with the Sponsor if your solution is potentially the best one. If this is the case, we will put the challenge on hold and you will enter into negotiations directly with the Sponsor. If you think that the award is fair as an upfront payment for an exclusive license, you can make a submission and then you will be obliged to separately sign a licensing agreement with the Sponsor.

If you think you have already in your hands a potential solution in the form of results you achieved in a project you carried out, alone or with other partners, feel free to contact us, and we will be able to assess together with the Sponsor if your solution is potentially the best one. If this is the case, we will put the challenge on hold and you will enter into negotiations directly with the Sponsor.