Valicia Nichole Smith, inventor of the Sinch Sock.

Monroeville — Meet Valicia Nichole Finch, insurance agent by day, inventor by night.

Finch, 36, from Millvale, N.J., is the creator of the Sinch Sock (patent pending). Displaying variations of her idea (socks held together by magnets, socks fastened by Velcro, socks with snap connectors) at a bustling Monroeville Convention Center on June 18, a sparkle of hope lit her eye and she talked about the American Dream as if it were her personal destiny.

“I’ve realized my aspirations are to be more than an insurance agent,” Finch asserted. “If someone is willing to invest in my idea, that will only propel me forward.”

Finch was attending INPEX, the largest invention and new product exposition in the country, and she had reason to be optimistic. Almost 1,100 businesses attended the convention in hopes of finding “The Next Big Thing,” and just about every inventor at the showcase was convinced they had created it.

This was the 25th anniversary year for INPEX, which has taken place in Monroeville since its founding in 1985 by InventHelp, a Pittsburgh-based company specializing in inventor services. InventHelp President Bob Susa said the convention played a pivotal role in publicizing and marketing inventions to interested corporate buyers.

“We’re in business to introduce new inventions to companies in hope of a good-faith review,” Susa said. “The event is successful because it brings together enough inventions to make it worthwhile for companies to come and browse from amongst many different ideas.”

INPEX features an array of seminars, speakers, networking events and other resources for conference attendees, with the goal of aiding them in creating and marketing their product. Topics discussed range from broad subjects such as entrepreneurialism, branding and promotion to specific items including intellectual property law, making an infomercial, and perfecting an elevator pitch.

“We educate the inventors before they go out on the show floor, so they’re ready when and if their big opportunity arrives,” Susa said.

InventHelp President Bob Susa at INPEX, the inventors' conference in Monroeville.

Inventors, Susa explained, need all the help they can get. They face long odds; the success rate is so low that it is more often referred to as a failure rate.

“Less than five percent [of inventions] work out in the end,” Susa said. “The invention process is a huge funnel, and at every step lies a potential roadblock.”

The easiest part, Susa said, is coming up with the idea. Licensing and marketing efforts can cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. Even with trade marking and copyrighting, the competition is cutthroat – Susa described the toy industry as “mafia-like” – and stolen ideas aren’t uncommon. For all the thousands put into developing a product and brand, most inventors will probably only get about two minutes to make their pitch to potential buyers.

Michael Wong, of Hong Kong, displays his invention, which senses movement in arms affected by stroke, helping with rehabilitation. Wong was one of many internationals exhibiting at INPEX.

Those potential buyers are the VIPs of the event. Typically, they are research and development representatives from corporations like Ronco, Omron, Step 2, Tupperware, the in-flight magazine SkyMall, and Church and Dwight, the mother company of Arm and Hammer. They are tracked like African game by the impatient inventors and are treated with reverential awe as they make their way from booth to booth.

“If we’re lucky, we’ll find one invention we’ll pursue,” said Frank Lindsay, Church and Dwight’s Senior Manager for Research and Development. “More realistically, we’ll find one every two to four years.”

Lindsay said he handed out advice freely to inventors on how they could improve their product or their pitch, but only seriously pursued ideas that had potential value of $25 million or more.

Don Debelak, who specializes in new product and new market introductions for DSD Marketing of Minnesota, has attended INPEX for the last 10 years. He said it was important for inventors to control their upfront expenses, as part of a larger process of tempering their expectations.

“I’ve seen people spend $50,000 or more on developing their invention,” Debelak said. “It’s just so important to always keep in mind no project is ever a slam-dunk. Unfortunately, you’re at the mercy of a corporation giving you a shot.”

With more than 40 years of experience in the industry, Debelak said he no longer needs to continue coming to INPEX, but finds himself unable to stay away.

“I can’t help myself,” he said. “The inventors are all so full of hope – and so needy of advice and willing to accept it.”

Hope is the uniting factor among a widely disparate group of inventors at INPEX. They come to the expo from all over America and 30 foreign countries. The good news, according to Debelak, is “Practically every company in the country was started by an inventor at some point.”

The bad news: “You just never know which idea will be big.”

Considering the importance innovation plays in driving the American economy, the U.S. is surprisingly unsupportive of the process, Susa said.

“Many other countries are far ahead of the U.S. in terms of respecting and funding invention,” he commented. “And our legal system makes it a much more complicated and expensive process.”

Still, Americans themselves seem to be the “little engine that could,” according to Sousa.

“It’s practically a million-to-one shot that an inventor really makes it big with his idea, but yet people come to this event year after year,” he said. “It’s because that million-to-one shot is the American dream. It’s why when someone does make it, it’s such a phenomenal story.”