Robert C. Describes how he was able to obtain 150 patents

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A p r i l 2 3 , 2 0 2 4
Facilitating Invent Sessions
Systemat i z in g invention in c o rp o rat io n s
Ro ber t C order y, MaxEnt Res earc h, LLC
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Mybackground
• Born in London England and raised near Toronto
• University of Toronto Physics
• Post Doc at Rutgers and VAP at Northeastern
– Phase transitions, gauge field theory, quantum chaos
• Pitney Bowes R&D for 30 years
– Ink jet printheads, 2D barcode readability, Electronic Article
Surveillance, paper handling, secure systems, IP, patent agent
• Adjunct/VAP at Fairfield since 2015
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Controllingarandomprocess
• An invention may arise spontaneously in the mind of one inventor, or
more often, from a small group working on a particular problem.
• Novel solutions arise from aligned capabilities and needs
– Sometimes the solution is patentable
• Businesses want to systematize this uncontrolled process
• I learned about invent sessions from my PBI colleagues, especially
James Euchner, Outside Insight Consulting, LLC
Dr. Ronald Sansone, PB Fellow
Christian Crews, Wavepoint Growth Strategies, LLC
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Inventsessions
• Businesses need to pivot because of a technology revolutions
• Established business practices are a stumbling block
• An invent session is a few-day event with diverse stakeholders
• Lessons learned from facilitating invent sessions
• Prework
• Three days, three stages
• Homework
• Open-Space Method
• Marshall McLuhan’s tetrad
We become what we behold.
We shape our tools and then
our tools shape us.
Father John Culkin, SJ
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BellLabs–ahighbar
• The story goes:
– A Bell Labs VP called a select group of
leaders together and insisted the
telephone system is broken
• Components are improved but we have
no fundamental improvements
– The meeting produced many ideas
– One small group replaced the
telephone dial with buttons.
• Saves on-line time
• LASER
– YAG, CO2, HeNe, retina repair
• Semiconductors
– Transistor, CCD, Photocell, LED
• Communications
– Transatlantic, microwave, cellular
– Fiber optics
– Information theory, FFT
• Astronomy
– Cosmic Microwave Background
– Van Allen Belts
• C and UNIXTM
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Goalsofabusiness’sinventionsession
• Generate IP in our business space
– Protect existing business model
– Protection for new offerings
– Not blocked from entering new businesses
– Develop a protected basis for innovative offerings
• Timeframe: now, 3, 5 and 10 years
• Build an invention culture
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Inventsessionprocess:
NoideaisabadideaNoideaisagoodenoughidea
• Prework
– Interview key stakeholders
– Determine business needs
• Day 1: stir the pot (common basis)
– Present business needs, technologies
– Generate wishes and cluster
– Open Space Method
– Form groups around wish clusters
• Day 2: generate (No idea is a bad idea)
– Small working groups
– Appreciation of output
– Draft invention descriptions
• Day 3: evaluate (No idea is good enough)
– criticism, ranking, IP
• Homework
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Participantsin aninventsession
External Participants
• Customers
• Lead users
• Subject matter experts
• Facilitators
• Artist
• Recorder
Internal Stakeholders
• Company C-suite
• Legal / IP
• Engineering, IT, R&D
• Product owners
• Manufacturing
• Customer facing employees,
Marketing, Sales, Service
• New employees
Non-disclosure
forms
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Tools
• Background from prework
• Food, coffee, tea
• Breaks with discussion space
• Break-out spaces for groups
• Parking lot – remember ideas
that are not prioritized
• Invention disclosure forms
• Non-disclosure forms
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Prework
• Interview key stakeholders
• Interview lead users from other fields
• Determine business needs and values
• Investigate impact of new technologies
• Prepare Stir the Pot presentations
• Identify and invite participants
• Get buy-in from C-suite
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Day1(Stirthepot)
• Morning presentations
– limited to 15 minutes each with follow-up
– Instruction about IP, Business needs, Customer needs, Technologies
• Participants’ activity during and after presentations
– Record wishes inspired by the presentation
– Share and build on wishes after each presentation
– Recorder documents these conversations as fodder for Day 2 (Generate)
• Afternoon stirring
– Analyze the concept space (e.g., McLuhan Tetrad method)
– Open Space Meeting
• Go home and relax
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OpenSpacemethod(HarrisonOwen)
• Whoever comes are the right people.
• Whenever it starts is the right time.
• Wherever it happens is the right place.
• Whatever happens is the only thing that could
happen
• Once something has happened, move on.
• When it's over, it's over
Law of two feet
Open space meeting at NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center:
NASA/GSFC/Debbie McCallum
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UsingtheOpenSpaceMethod
• Participants seated in a circle.
– Leader sets the theme
– Participants generate topics
– Participants or facilitators group topics in a break
• Bulletin board organized by topics
– Participants can choose a topic area to lead
• Groups formed around topic leaders to dig in
– Define the wish in more detail
– Describe from stakeholder perspectives
– Participants can switch groups
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Day2:generatewishes(Noideais abadidea)
• Review Day 1 (Open Space Method)
– Finalize working groups
• Working groups have their own spaces
– Build on wishes and concepts
– Develop initial invention disclosure contents
• Regroup
– Share results, Appreciation, Build on concepts, Generate new concepts
– The Recorder documents creative contributions of potential inventors
– Leader prioritizes areas of inventions
• Homework: Draft Invention Disclosures
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H.MarshallMcLuhan
• The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962)
• Understanding Media (1964)
• The Medium is the Massage (1967)
• The Global Village (1989)
• The Laws of Media (1977)
By Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer
“The wheel…is an extension of the foot
The book… is an extension of the eye
Clothing … an extension of the skin
Electric circuitry … an extension of the central nervous system.”
Marshall McLuhan, ‘The Medium Is The Massage’.
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TheMcLuhanTetradofquestions
• What human capability is enhanced?
• What previous technology is obsolete, i.e., art?
• What much older technology does the
technology retrieve?
• What does it reverse into when pushed to
extremes?
Figure Ground
Past
Future
“What is very little understood about the
electronic age is that it angelizes man,
disembodies him. Turns him into software.”
— Marshall McLuhan, 1971.
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ATetradforthecar
Reverses
Distances increase
Traffic jams
Radio, podcasts, phone
Enhances
Personal travel speed
Private space
Obsolesces
Bicycle, Walking
Retrieves
Horse drawn wagon
Chariot
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Day3:Noideaisgoodenough
• Each working group presents each of their concepts
– What won’t work (technically, business, customer)
– Build – Ideas to improve the concept
– Patentability
• Begin final invention disclosures
– Rank and prioritize concepts
– Identify each potential inventor and their inventive concept
– Assign an invention disclosure author
• Homework:
– Finalize disclosures, Write and file patent applications
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“Izzy, Have you asked a good question today?”
Mother of I.I.Rabi
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