
The Invention Machine: Cleveland Duo Churns Out Ideas Worth Billions - prostoalex
http://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2014/02/12/the-invention-machine-cleveland-duo-churns-out-ideas-worth-billions/
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rayiner
Whatever your views on the patent system, I think its worth thinking about
companies like this, that just have engineers who do R&D without being backed
by big sales and marketing teams. There is a lot of value to business models
like this one (and ARM, etc). They don't need to think about users, scaling,
marketing, etc, just the technology. Its not good for innovation if the only
companies that can make money off R&D are ones that build end-user products to
put it into, because ultimately the optimal conditions for many kinds of R&D
aren't all that compatible with the conditions in product-focused
organizations.

~~~
JangoSteve
> They don't need to think about users, scaling, marketing, etc, just the
> technology.

While I don't disagree with the sentiment of your post as a whole, this
statement seems to state the opposite of what the article describes. All of
their greatest hits were a result of thinking about users, scaling, and
marketing. A few excerpts from the article show...

...that they're thinking about users: _The process starts in a research lab in
the church’s basement. Designers, engineers and prototype builders crowd into
a small room on one side of a two-way mirror and watch through the glass as
consumers use products like, say, a bottle of Pepto-Bismol. They take notes on
potential problems, such as how sick people usually take two teaspoons instead
of the suggested two tablespoons, underdosing themselves._

...that they're thinking about scaling: _Clients walk away with a patent plus
a prototype they can send straight to a manufacturer._

...that they're thinking about marketing: _GOJO had developed a goo that would
clean hands, but it wouldn 't sell. Nottingham Spirk added air bubbles and
clear packaging, helping turn GOJO's Purell brand into America's hand
sanitizer._

In fact, article describes that they got their first big break when they took
a company's (Rotodyne) existing manufacturing technology (rotational molding
for bedpans), and figured out how that company could use their technology on a
large-scale with an entirely new market (Little Tikes).

The introduction even states that they _don 't_ just think about technology:

 _Rather than invent products and then figure out how to sell them, à la
Edison, the Nottingham Spirk Innovation Center invites corporate
behemoths–from Procter & Gamble PG -1.07% to Mars –to come to it with its
product quandaries._

~~~
rayiner
I don't mean to say that you can design technology without studying how users
will use it, or thinking about how it will be manufactured. But I think there
is a benefit to the engineers being under a different roof from the guys who
are worried that user growth was only 4% this quarter or that the product
isn't trending in the 18-25 demographic or that factory workers in China are
demanding a raise.

Not that those guys aren't useful too, but they tend to create an environment
that inhospitable to certain kinds of R&D.

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adwf
At first I was worried this was going to be another patent troll story, but
was pleasantly surprised. An actual company doing freelance product
development, using the patent system as it was intended. No mention of whether
they abuse the system too, but overall quite interesting.

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mrfusion
How do they reach the right people in these mega corporations to get all these
contracts? Wouldn't they need a large, world-class sales team?

I think that's what the article is leaving out. You can't just open for
business and have giant corporations beat down your door.

~~~
josefresco
The article breezes over how they got their foot in the door, but I would
imagine it happened gradually (bigger and bigger customers) and then...

"Their big break came when they approached Rotodyne..."

Have to be careful not to compare how they do business now, with how they did
business when they were operating from a "garage". I would assume that they
(the co-founders) were essentially their own world-class sales team in the
beginning and their reputation now replaces that function entirely.

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AndrewKemendo
_Nottingham anticipates bigger results from the firm’s latest play:
HealthSpot, a kiosk that comes with pull-out medical instruments and a high-
definition screen that allows for remote, yet face-to-face, medical
appointments._

Interesting video here: [http://www.healthspot.net/solutions/healthspot-
station/](http://www.healthspot.net/solutions/healthspot-station/)

...however this feels way too close to the idiocracy medical scanning machine:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIktqjfsB_0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIktqjfsB_0)

~~~
TezzellEnt
There have been companies working on the Tricoder XPrize[1] who are trying to
replicate the infamous Star Trek tricoder. I personally think it will beat out
on cost versus something like the HealthSpot, but I know nothing about what
the market wants/will use/will pay for in the future. I do know one thing
though, these guys seem well connected with some of the Old Guard and possibly
Government to potentially have influence on rolling out pilot programs.
[1][http://tricorder.xprize.org/](http://tricorder.xprize.org/)

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Shivetya
I like the success stories they gave but would be really curious at how many
times they have hit the proverbial brick wall. The lesson being, that while
they may hit a large number of brick walls there is always another success to
be had. Too many just give up when the dream isn't realized immediately.

~~~
clarkmoody
The article mentions that they have over 1000 patents, but it only lists a
dozen or so success stories.

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Gravityloss
The inventions don't really seem like much to me?

~~~
yitchelle
I can be cynical and say that the invention of the wheel did not look like
much to the cavemen either..

~~~
icebraining
Paraphrasing Carl Sagan, the fact that some great inventions were laughed at
does not imply that all which are laughed at are great inventions.

~~~
psykovsky
But it shows there is a real possibility for a laughed at invention to be
great.

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delinquentme
But we should all repeat the mantra: " ideas don't matter -- only execution !
"

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Htsthbjig
I don't believe this people are great inventors. They could be great designers
but not inventors.

The inventor of the "Dirt Devil vacuum" was Dyson who was the one who invented
the system this vacuum uses.

The same could be said about "Crest Spinbrush". They added another brush. Wow,
so hard to imagine!

Great inventors revolutionize a product:

Dyson completely changed the concept of a vacuum cleaner.

Tesla revolutionized the concept of a car.

Apple revolutionized the concept of a personal computer and telephone.

Igor Reizerson revolutionized the concept of cleaning your teeth.

Those Cleveland guys hold a thousand patents over little improvements here and
there. Good for them, but don't call yourself inventor. You are not, at least
a good one.

~~~
xorcist
I think several of those "great inventors" are more pop cultural references
than actually important their respective fields, at least if you look at it
world wide.

> Dyson completely changed the concept of a vacuum cleaner.

Never heard of. Western european hemisphere here.

> Igor Reizerson revolutionized the concept of cleaning your teeth.

Not only haven't heard of, doesn't exist on Google.

Your other examples I have heard of. But I have yet to see a Tesla on the
road. And Apple, while having been very influential in the smartphone market,
are hardly revolutionaries in the computer market.

If you wanted to critise who is an inventor I think you could do much better.
Surely you must have either made some groundbreaking discovery or at least
made a dent in your field. Preferrably both.

~~~
DanBC
> Never heard of. Western european hemisphere here.

You've never heard of Dyson vacuum cleaners and Dyson "fanless" fans and Dyson
handdryers? (Dyson is English).

~~~
xorcist
No, no, and yes. The hand dryers are not uncommon in restaurants and the like.

I had to check the Wikipedia article to see the vacuum in question. It looks
like it's one of those "upright" types, and they are pretty much unheard of
outside the UK, US and Australia I believe (which is pretty much in line with
what the article says). I would have trouble calling what is world wide a
niche model revolutionary, unless it is good enough to spread them
internationally.

It's remarkably interesting to see how such a common house product is so
different across cultures which are so similar in other aspects.

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markbnj
Well, I hadn't heard of those two guys, but I will say they are now my heroes.
:).

