UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 30, Page 8
May 5, 1994
Inventors mean business for Delaware economy

     According to a recent survey by Biz Magazine, Delaware is the most
inventive state in the nation. In 1990, Delaware inventors received 434
U.S. patents, giving it the highest number of patents per capita in the
country. The magazine's Scott Thomas said, "areas with a robust
research-and-development prowess will be winners in the technology-based
economy of today and tomorrow."
     Some of these patented inventions have come from local inventors who
belong to Inventors Mean Business, a group that meets monthly at the
Delaware Small Business Development Center (SBDC) on the campus.
     The group consists of about 10 to 12 regular members who gather to
give advice to other inventors or to receive help with their own projects.
     The group lets people share their ideas, ask questions, give answers
and receive advice on how to improve their products. The inventors come to
meetings with ideas in various stages of development-from the initial idea
to the prototype and ultimate patent stages. The group is a forum for
discussing these ideas.
     Not everyone who attends the club meetings is an inventor. Some people
come just to share their experiences and expertise with those who are
seeking advice. Through this open-discussion format, many ideas have been
turned into market prototypes, which can eventually lead to the
manufacturing stages. Some of the inventors patent and license their ideas
and even market them on infomercials.
     Tim Bristow, a business analyst for the SBDC, keeps records, mails
reminders and arranges the meetings. He said Inventors Mean Business is a
support group. "It's not just a come-to-feel-good group. People come to get
something done, or get something out of the discussions," Bristow said.
     The SBDC, which tries to provide assistance to small businesses in
order to promote growth, expansion, innovation, increased productivity and
management improvement, is the club's sponsor. The inventors group was
created a few years ago in hopes of making small business a more successful
and productive sector of the Delaware economy. According to Bristow, the
invention of new products or improvement of existing inventions that can be
manufactured creates jobs and wealth, which lead to wider economic
development.
     Joe Metzler, a self-employed, small-businessperson, was chosen by the
group to run the meetings. Each informal session begins with an update on
what was discussed at the previous gathering, then moves on to new ideas
that people have. When someone wants to discuss an idea that might be
patentable, the group signs a secrecy agreement in order to keep things
private.
     If someone doesn't want to sit in on the session because it may
present a conflict of interest, that person is able to leave before the
presenter begins.
     After sharing new ideas, the group listens to a guest speaker, who is
usually from outside the University. At the end of each meeting, the group
draws up an agenda for the next session.
     Group members turn out a variety of inventions, ranging from gadgets
for cars, to new tools, to educational toys to computer attachments. One
woman has patented Smart Pack, a container that prevents wrinkles in
clothes when packing a suitcase.
     Another person patented braille blocks for blind children. Metzler
patented and trademarked his Quik View invention, which is a map holder
that attaches to a ski pole.
     When a skier comes to a point where he needs to check his map, he
pulls it out like a scroll from the holder, then lets it roll back in when
he is done.
     Bristow said the group is trying to bring in new, interested members
in order to create more discussion and generate more creative suggestions.
He said the ideas generated in meetings sometimes sound outrageous, yet
they can be adapted to more practical solutions that have feasible
applications. The good thing about the group members is that "they think in
a non-traditional way," Bristow said.
     There is no fee to join or dues to pay.
     The group meets on the second Thursday of each month. Interested
persons can attend a session and fill out a short questionnaire, which puts
them on the mailing list. The next meeting will be held from 7-9:30 p.m.,
Thursday, May 12, in 233A Purnell Hall.
     For more information, contact Bristow at 831-2747.
                                                  -Gina Poltrok