PORTLAND – New product consultant James E. Richardson of Richardson & Associates Inc. who will speak on options for entrepreneurial inventors developing new products, at the next meeting of the Maine Inventors Forum.

The meeting will be held in Portland on Tuesday, Sept. 14, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the University of Maine School of Law, 246 Deering Ave., Room 137. The forum is free and open to the public.

Richardson will outline the considerations and specific procedures first-time inventors should use in determining the viability of an idea. He will also outline the steps necessary to develop the product, discuss some business options and comment on methods to avoid common pitfalls faced by inventors.

Richardson is an industrial designer and new-product development consultant previously based in Weston, Conn., before relocating to Maine. He is currently involved in developing industrial and consumer products for major corporations and entrepreneurial start-ups, and has been awarded 19 U.S. patents for product innovations.

Richardson is a past president of the Inventors Association of Connecticut and has been the subject of numerous articles in national publications, including the New York Times and Fortune magazine. He was a guest lecturer at the University of Connecticut MBA Entrepreneurial Program at Stamford and a speaker at inventor and entrepreneurial organizations in the Northeast.