Completed registration packets should be sent to the address on the application form. Each invention must be described fully, be represented by an informational display, and be characterized by either a model or working prototype. As one patent agent stated, What is needed is evidence of conception, followed by evidence of diligence. An inventor's notebook, if witnessed regularly by someone other than the inventor, is one way of generating that evidence. The journal generally includes notes about all ideas that are considered even the ones that are rejected, about possible solutions, materials, plans, timelines, and research information about similar products.
Some inventors even attach dated receipts as proof of the dates of research activity.
Each application packet must include an Official State Invention Convention Log . The evaluations will be based upon an understanding of the inventions as represented through the inventors video presentations and journals. Students with particularly meritorious inventions will be selected for participation in the Invent Iowa State Invention Convention and will be notified of their selection no later than Thursday, March 7, 2001.