We called professor Alex Slocum of MIT the other day and caught him in his workshop building and inventing his way though a snowy day. We asked him about the CIMIT Prize for Primary Care and what suggestions he has for any innovator or inventor working to create disruptive innovations in systems and devices.
Alex is the guru of innovation and invention and in this brief podcast he gives tremendous insight:
1. Fiddle around, be playful
2. Have real personal passion and excitement for the area of interest
3. Never stop asking why
4. Careful thinking and careful research (be bimodal and objective!)
5. Think like the user (In the case of the CIMIT Prize think like a physician, clinician or patient - Not like an engineer or inventor)
And check out the podcast here...
Letters of intent from undergraduate and graduate students in engineering for the $150,000 $100,000 and $50,000 CIMIT Prize for Innovations in Primary Care are due January 15, 2009. So in the fine words of Dr. Ron Dixon, INNOVATE NOW!
I agree with Dr. Slocum and have used many of those methods to train medical inventors at Stanford's Biodesign program. Zen Chu's presentation on High Impact Medical Innovation is another great resource on this site. Create and post more healthcare innovation sessions, please!
Posted by: | 28 January 2009 at 10:00 AM