Doctor of Invention By: Michael Neuvirth

One of my most favorite role models -- Seth Godin -- teaches that the best way to find new ideas is via a process called "edgecraft." According to Seth, edgecraft is a methodical, measurable process that allows individuals and teams to identify inexorably the soft innovations that live on the edges. It can be done quickly or over long periods of time. And you can even do it by yourself (Seth's does his edgecraft in the shower, I do mine when I go on very long walks late at night.

Seth's edgecraft is a straightforward process:

1. Find an edge--a free prize that has been shown to make a product or service (in someone else's industry) remarkable.
2. Go all the way to that edge--as far from the center as the consumers you are trying to reach dare you to go.

Seth says that brainstorming might create the occasional breakthrough, but edgecraft can inexpensively and quickly churn out lots of ideas--good ideas and sometimes great ideas. Ideas you can rapidly implement. If people aren't blown away, they won't talk about it. If they don't talk about it, then it doesn't spread fast enough to help you grow.

There are hundreds of available edges--things you can add to, subtract from, or do to your product or service. Here are a few to consider.
Technology. Moore's Law says that every 18 months, the power of computer chips you can buy for a dollar doubles. This opens two kinds of opportunity. The first is at the cutting edge. Xbox and PlayStation pack supercomputer power into video-game machines. If you could add a supercomputer to your product or service, what would it do? The second approach is to take advantage of the cheap part of the curve. Yesterday's technology is always (much) cheaper. The latest innovation: The $11 digital camera. If computer chips were a penny, how would you use them?

Design aesthetic. Design is the single highest-leverage investment you can make. A well-designed product is usually cheaper to make and service than what you're doing now. It will also improve sales because people notice it and talk about it. Not only the user interface but also the entire user experience is now dictated by design. Of all the edges I know, embracing amazing design is the easiest, the fastest, and the one with the most assured return on investment.

According to Seth, A 9-year-old can do edgecraft. While the edges always change, the process never does:

1. Find a product or service that's completely unrelated to your industry.
2. Figure out who's winning by being remarkable.
3. Discover what edge they went to.
4. Do that.

Crest figured out how to make money with remarkably cheap electric toothbrushes. What if companies such as Gillette or Henckels or Oster or Braun or Playtex or Toro or Sony decided to go to the same edge in their industry?

Don't copy the specific tactics. Figure out how you can get to the same edge but in a different way.

Try to edgecraft -- it should lead to remarkable ideas for new medical devices.

Questions or comments, please email me

A lot more information, data, links and resources can be found on my mirror Doctor of Invention Blog. Please check it out.

Posted by Michael Neuvirth at 02:45 PM | Permalink

Everyone knows that time is the great equalizer in this world. Everyone has a flat twenty-four hours in a day—nothing more and nothing less. Everyone also knows that successful people get a lot more out of those twenty-four hours than average people.

Time management is hard, and it’s a flawed concept.

You really can’t manage time. It is finite. What we all know and talk about really is how we can manage ourselves better. So, really, if you want to manage your time better, you have no choice but learn to manage yourself better.

Rajesh Setty wrote a manifesto entitled: Making the Most of Your Time: Going Beyond To-Do Lists

Please download it here, read it and hopefully you will then be able to find time to invent life saving and quality of life improving medical devices.

Questions or comments, please email me

A lot more information, data, links and resources can be found on my mirror Doctor of Invention Blog. Please check it out.

Posted by Michael Neuvirth at 03:48 PM | Permalink

From Pharma MedDevice

▪ 125 million Americans have 1 or more chronic conditions (e.g. congestive heart failure, diabetes.) Chronic diseases account for 75% of all health care expenditures. Source: Burrill & Company, 2006

▪ The medical device market in the United States should be approximately $86 billion by the end of 2006 (close to $220 billion worldwide), with a 10% annual growth rate expected for the coming year. Source: AdvaMed 2006

▪ The market for coatings and surface-treatment processes used on medical devices will reach more than $5.31 billion by 2010. The 12.4% annual growth rate will be fueled by explosive growth in high-value combination products. Source: Medical Device Coatings Report, BCC Research, April 2006

▪ During period of 2001-1006, California companies - $23.9 billion of increased market value creation, followed by Indiana at $22.9 billion, and Massachusetts at $20.7 billion. Source: Medical Device Industry Market Capitalization Report, 2001–2006

▪ The medical devices and equipment industry employs more than 411,400 workers, accounting for nearly one third of all US bioscience jobs. Source: Medical Product Outsourcing 2006

▪ Pennsylvania and New York included in Top 5 US states for Medical Device Employment - The thriving medical device industry in Massachusetts is the East Coast equivalent of the San Francisco Bay Area. Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2005

▪ The spinal devices segment (of the marketplace), with a striking growth rate of 20 to 25 percent annually, leads the orthopedic market. Extensive research on bone growth factors and fusion biologics has been integral to emerging technologies for the spine market. Source: Frost & Sullivan’s Emerging Technologies for the Spine Market (Technical Insights), published September 2006

▪ The medical device industry in Canada has approximately $5 billion in sales, with 50% of those sales in Ontario and 25% occurring in Quebec. Source: www.medec.org, 2007

Ok, the market is huge and growing -- why not invent a new device? What are you waiting for!!

Questions or comments, please email me

A lot more information, data, links and resources can be found on my mirror Doctor of Invention Blog. Please check it out.

Posted by Michael Neuvirth at 07:00 PM | Permalink

One of the most common issues I face in helping Doctors invent and profit from their inventions is: Who really owns the Doctor's invention? This issue is very important when trying to determine who has the right to commercialize the invention and typically comes into play with physicians who are employees of hospitals.

Basically, Inventors own their patent rights until they transfer or assign them to someone else. Employment contracts for physicians typically require that they assign their patent rights to the hospital -- with no additional compensation except for the doctor's usual salary.

While such an invention assignment may appear to be very restrictive -- there are ways for doctors to make money from their inventions. Doctors need to make sure and have proof that their inventions were conceived and reduced to practice exclusively on the doctors' own time and with his or her own resources (a "home invention"). This type of invention will be owned by the doctor, not the hospital.

The key here is to for the doctor to keep a detailed invention notebook. Everything you need to know about invention notebooks is covered extensively in my book, Physician Invent Thyself.

In addition, even if the hospital owns the patent, forming a company around the invention is still a viable option if the doctor can negotiate a license agreement with the patent-owning hospital or research institution. Doctors should try to obtain an exclusive license with no (or a low) up-front payment and reasonable royalties tied to actual product sales, which may not begin for a number of years. Hospitals and research institutions are usually willing to negotiate a patent license because their primary mission is treating patients and curing disease, not forming start-up medical companies.

Some hospitals have their own technology transfer and commercialization offices and Doctor Inventors should initially find out the exact role of the office and their specific policies on ownership of inventions and commercialization rights.

For Doctor Inventors that are employed by hospitals, the best practice is to learn the particular invention ownership and commercialization policy of the hospital and to keep a proper and very detailed invention notebook if they plan to invent on their own time.

Questions or comments, please email me

A lot more information, data, links and resources can be found on my mirror Doctor of Invention Blog. Please check it out.

Posted by Michael Neuvirth at 07:37 PM | Permalink

One of the goals of this blog is to help Doctors become Inventors. So, my very first post covers the role model for all potential Doctor-Inventors -- Dr. Thomas Fogarty. Dr. Fogarty's past and present achievements should inspire and motivate you to become a Doctor-Inventor.

Dr. Thomas Fogarty is the most prolific Doctor-Inventor of all time. Over the past 40 years, he has invented medical devices that have saved millions of lives and improved the quality of life of millions of patients.

Dr. Fogarty holds 63 US patents in surgical devices, with additional patents pending. Two of his most famous inventions are the Aneurx stent and the balloon arterial embolectomy catheter for the removal of blood clots. Over a 40 year period, he helped found 33 business and research companies and he also owns an award winning winery.

Dr. Fogarty started inventing a young age – he invented the centrifugal clutch when he was only 15. As a scrub technician before attending Medical School, he invented the embolectomy balloon catheter (i.e., the Fogarty catheter) -- by altering a surgical glove using techniques he learned from fly-fishing. In 2000 Dr. Fogarty won the Lemelson-MIT Prize for Invention and Innovation (the world's largest single award for invention and innovation). He is also an inductee in the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

For me, Dr. Fogarty’s role as a mentor and motivator for Doctor-Inventors is one of his greatest achievements. The following are a few quotes from Dr. Fogarty:

“I've achieved the things I've done by asking one question: 'Can it be done better?' I've tried to improve the application of technology to daily patient care. A technology that works in one segment of medicine can, if thought of appropriately, be applied elsewhere successfully."

“If you look at major innovations, most of them are not accepted right away. They’re challenged, because tradition tells us they won’t work. That’s why so many inventors are initially viewed as crazy.”

“Well, ideas are only ideas. I’ll tell people about something, and they’ll say, “Oh, I had that idea.” But the idea alone has absolutely no value. Thinking about something doesn’t in and of itself help anybody. It’s the implementation of the idea that brings value to the public.”

“Failure is the preamble to success. Most first efforts don’t work. If you persist, you’ll eventually figure it out.”

“I believe that if you emphasize doing good, making things better, improving society, you’ll end up getting rewarded. A lot of people start at the other end, and I don’t think that works as well. The most successful people I’ve seen acknowledged a problem and said, “We can fix that.” They end up being rewarded, and that’s the way it should be. That’s the system we live in.”

Read more about Dr. Fogarty on his Fogarty Winery Website.

Lets all make Dr. Fogarty proud and continue his legacy of doing good, making things better and improving society. Image how many lives would be saved and how many patients would benefit. Wouldn't it be great to be the next Dr. Fogarty? Think about it and then act on it.

Questions or comments, please email me

A lot more information, data, links and resources can be found on my mirror Doctor of Invention Blog. Please check it out.

Posted by Michael Neuvirth at 06:32 AM | Permalink