Invention Factory
from the but-will-it-work? dept
MIT's Tech Review has an article about Nathan Myhrvold's new project, where he wants to bring a bunch of inventors together into one company and let them invent stuff. The company plans to make money by licensing patents - and are trying to set up the compensation model so that the inventor shares in the success of the particular patents they are named on. Myhrvold says this model is the "4th generation" of inventing (following individual inventors, corporate research, and the "Silicon Valley model"). It's an interesting idea with some interesting names involved (Dean Kamen is an "advisor). However, there are a bunch of question marks. Inventors don't necessarily want to work together (and many have their own research labs already - such as Kamen, who is only advising, not joining). Plus, pure research ventures don't have a history of huge success by themselves. Sooner or later, money becomes a necessity, and so the "pure" research starts getting pressure to become more practical very quickly.
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4th Generation? What about Menlo Park
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This is new?
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Nathan is on to the right path.
For 10 years we had new products and some 10 years ahead of today. Grew 20%-30% per year 1991 - 1999.
Created, had a ball, helped not sell, and some other stuff. My wife is calling . Nathan will do it
Best,
Stephen R. Welch
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