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Post by E on Jul 20, 2009 7:45:54 GMT -5
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Post by mike on Jul 20, 2009 14:10:29 GMT -5
No, but it seems like a cool idea.
Having invented things myself (some sucessful, some less so) I can attest to the fact that the process from idea to commercial success is difficult and frought with hazards. Many good ideas are never completed, especially by individual enterpreneurs as they easily get discouraged by real-world realities. Anything we can do to encourage them, especially in areas like disability as opposed to the next iPhone.
A good example of what I am talking about is the following: Several years ago at an inventors conference, one of the speakers was an elderly gentleman and prolific inventor who told the story of one of his earlier experiences. It seemed he was working in the research & development department for Kimberly-Clarke (a large paper products manufacturer). His responsibility was developing new uses for paper products. After working there for a while, upper management called him in to present his current project. When he explained what he was developing, he was summarily fired with the following admonition: Are you kidding? NOBODY is going to buy disposable diapers!
Extend that narrow mind-set into evaluation of the marketing viability of something narrowly focused (for example something to facilitate wheelchair transfer), and further narrowed by certain market realities (who will pay for it?), and you begin to realize the problems.
Few inventors have the resources to bring an idea into production and successful market, things at this level are almost invariably licensed to established manufacturers. Selling those manufacturers on the value of a limited-market idea is quite difficult. Rewarding ideas, whether with money, market visibility or whatever is priceless.
One of my more successful ideas was languishing in the realm of invisibility until Forbes magazine ran an article about it, subsequently really launching it into the marketplace. We were not manufacturing anything, but licensing existing manufacturers, and subsequent to the article the manufacturers pretty much uniformly became excited by the idea. Without the article, we would not have been successful. The project you referred to is an example of an excellent venue to encourage, and thereby increase the likelyhood of commercial success. By focusing on a narrow market, it focuses help where it is badly needed.
Regards, Mike
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