Abstract: An embodiment of the invention relates to a crowd-sourcing invention development system (CIDS) and methods associated with the system to aid inventors, at no cost or at minimal cost, to develop their ideas and to file patent applications based on their ideas. According to embodiments of the invention, CIDS facilitates investment in an inventor's invention by exposing potential investors to inventions at preliminary stages of invention development, allowing investors to fund activities such as searching and patent application drafting and filing. Investors may continue to invest after patent application drafting. According to an embodiment of the invention, CIDS users may assist invention development or prior art searching by submitting relevant information via the CIDS website. A submitter may be rewarded by being granted rights or credits to be exchanged for rights in an invention submitted to the CIDS website.