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Michael PotterDistinguished Researcher

Kate Gleason College of Engineering

Rochester Institute of Technology

Rochester, New York 14623

Office 585-475-5561

FAX 585-475-7845

mdpemc@rit.edu

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Agenda

• Secrets of Inventing Success– All you need to know (sort of)

• Some ‘not-so-good’ ideas

• The main reasons for failure

• Some more regarding Success

• Some great recent inventions

• What’s on the Horizon

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• What is the first thing an inventor needs to know?

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• What is the first thing an inventor needs to know?– What’s the problem?– Problems are opportunities– Necessity is …

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• What is the first thing an inventor needs to know?– What’s the problem?– Problems are opportunities

• Necessity is the female or male parental monospecific polychromatic bipedal heterotroph of all invention

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• Some help for innovation– The “Henry Ford” approach

• Example Post-it notes

• “If you know what you are looking for, you are limited by what you know.” (Jerome I. Friedman)

– Cross paradigmatic thinking• Alterable Threshold Voltage FET’s Embedded

Electronic Charge MEMS Technology 

– Keep quiet, NDA, CDA, need to know, etc.

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• What is the second thing an inventor needs to know?

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• What is the second thing an inventor needs to know?– Is my solution novel? Is there new teaching?

• Literature search

• Patent search (www.uspto.gov)

• Picture hanger hook

– The inventor is the champion• “…..one of ordinary skill…..can practice the invention…..”

• Patent attorney editing

• Office actions

– Cell phone prior art

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• What is the third thing an inventor needs to know?

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• What is the third thing an inventor needs to know?– Is there a market?– If not, it’s probably a bad (economic) idea– If the idea is disruptive, apply “The rule of 10”

• Square wheels

– The {10 – 40 – 40 – 10} rule

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• Some examples (actual issued patents) where market research may have been less than perfect

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Some Reasons for Failure

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• FACT: Very few independent inventors ever see their inventions succeed

• Many causes of failure, one is greed (money, control, unwilling to share)

• “I focus on doing the right thing and the money comes.” (Kathleen Dever)

• The fantasy that “Everybody will want one”

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• What is the fourth thing an inventor needs to know?

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• What is the fourth thing an inventor needs to know?– A good idea is a good idea – don’t give up– MeterMark– iBot

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iBot & IT• Dean Kamen

– A True Visionary– Creates the future as he sees it

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The iBOT – Mobility on Par

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Personal Transporter

“The Segway”

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Distance: 120 feet Flight time: 12 seconds

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SOLO TREK

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Micro-Power Supply

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Energy Harvester

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Hot Areas of Commercial Nano Development 5 yrs 10-15 yrs

Personal health diagnostics 6 17

Personalized drugs 3 9

Disposable Displays 6 9

Artificial bone tissue/organ 3 8

Novel foods 0 6

Solar power 6 6

Retinal/cochlear/ neural implants 0 6

Smart paints/pigments/coatings 33 6

Security/crime detection 2 3

Smart clothing 3 2

Prevention of congenital disease 0 0

Robotic surgery 0 0

Microsatellites 2 0

Space medicine 0 0

Games/entertainment 5 0

Survey of 100 (so-called) worldwide “nano” experts

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Not all experts are futurist

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The first human trials of the detectors will begin this year. http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20020110A2 . (9/5/2001)

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Summary

• Anyone can be an inventor– What’s the problem– Prior art search– Estimate the “real” value– Realistic and fair expectations– Persistence