Airing of Ideas Urged In Imaging

By Junko Yoshida

March 5, 2007

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Technology innovations in digital imaging are stymied because there is very little opportunity for engineers to "air their ideas" with others in public, according to consultant Jean Barda.

Barda, previously president of Netimage (Gargilesse, France), knows his way around the topics of innovation and intellectual-property protection. He has participated in ISO standards development as head of the French delegation to the International Organization for Standardization for more than 10 years. As a hardware engineer, he has registered some 10 patents. His inventions are used in TV production, in France's Minitel network and in various coding processes.

At PMA 2007, a Photo Marketing Association International-sponsored trade, Barda will announce the rules for participation in a digital-imaging "idea" contest dubbed the 6Sight Innovation Framework. Scheduled in tandem with the 6Sight Conference to be held this fall, the contest seeks to provide a forum where concepts can be introduced, discussed and judged by an independent panel.

The contest is for individuals, not companies. Barda said he hopes the event will open the door to "native ideas with no business plans," adding that the absence of a business plan should not be a concept killer.

The notion of public disclosure of new ideas seems counterintuitive in a fast-changing industry that's fiercely protective of its IP. Open, nonconfidential conversations about a concept could end up being defined as "prior public disclosure." That could prevent an inventor from an exclusive claim to his invention or could trigger denial of a patent.

But Barda counters that every good idea deserves an airing, with peers providing feedback, reality checks and information on whether anyone else has done something similar. The industry needs a forum where individuals can exchange ideas without worrying about losing their IP rights, he said.

He pointed to his own experience collaborating with researchers at Columbia University in 1990 on technologies to display large images.

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