We’ve heard that some people are concerned about their intellectual property, so we wanted to share some words of assurance.
In many cases, it's in your best interests to disclose as much of your idea as possible, because this will help you to get more feedback. In turn, this helps you improve your idea and, because people have been in touch with you, it increases your chances of people voting for your idea. Therefore, my recommendation to most of you is … don't worry and keep sharing!
We understand that you have put a lot of effort into developing your solution, and that you’re concerned about your idea being "stolen". There are cases when it makes sense not to disclose intellectual property– for example, when you’ve developed new technology. In this case, we advise you not to mention the details of your technology, and focus on what you’re trying to achieve. People will still be able to give you valuable feedback, but they won't learn enough about the details to steal anything. We’ve had thousands of participants in online challenges, and we’ve never had an instance of "theft"!
Some of you may have ideas that can be "stolen" relatively easily – the risk is greatest if you’ve developed a social innovation. Publishing such an idea here could, theoretically, increase the risk of idea theft, although the "thief" would probably hear about your idea anyway, once you started implementing it. In other words, you can't really avoid this problem. Perhaps think about it differently: if people like your idea, they’re likely to interact with you by commenting. This is a great way to get to know like-minded people who might end up working with you on your project. The more people who support you, the more likely you are to create a lasting impact; and the more people you have on your team, the more difficult it will be for somebody else to "beat" you.
This is why we believe in online challenges. The potential to benefit from this format is much greater than the risk.
Have fun, and feel free to get in touch [your email address] if you have any questions!
