Dean Kamen is an inventor who has more than 440 patents, has started many successful companies and is an accomplished serial entrepreneur. He probably has started more companies and developed more devices than many other people. His continuing accomplishment is FIRST robotics, that aims to develop robots by school children and help in their development. He has combined the profit required for business with good for society. As an example, when contacted by DARPA to develop an artificial arm for veterans, he was honest enough to tell them that the development does not have more potential because there are not many people out there that need the arms. However, he took on the project for development because of the need – no for-profit company would take the project since they would just look at the business aspect and forget the social aspect. Dean also created Segway which did not become a commercial success but did create a strong model for future engineering since it was so far advanced. Dean has three criteria for choosing projects:
- There should be a big need
- Improve the quality of Life for people
- It raises the bar for devices
These are good criteria for any medical device business and also watch the 60 minute segment on creation of the arm.
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