Page 113 - Technology and Innovation Journal - 19-1

INNOVATION Technology and Innovation, Vol. 19, p. 451, 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.21300/19.1.2017.451
ISSN 1949-8241 • E-ISSN 1949-825X
Printed in the USA. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2017 National Academy of Inventors.
www.technologyandinnovation.org
T&I BOOK REVIEW

Sean White Laser Associated Sciences, Inc. Charles E. Hutchinson
Tyler Rice Beckman Laser Institute
Bruce Yang University of California, Irvine Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

Engineering Entrepreneurship, From Idea to well as the structure of the United States Patent and
Approximately 12 million people in the U.S. suffer from a condition called peripheral artery disease Business Plan Trademark Office and their processes, he spends
(PAD), which is characterized by arteries in the legs becoming narrowed or blocked by plaque. This Paul Swamidass time outlining the opportunity for pro se applicants.
Cambridge University Press, 2016 (254 pp.)
This is often left out of texts of this type. The author
restricts blood flow to the feet and results in 70,000 major amputations in the U.S. each year at a $39.95 (ISBN 978-1107651647) clearly has experience in this latter approach.
cost of more than $10 billion. www.engineer-entrepreneur-book.com/ The only major weakness I find in the text is there
could have been more time spent on the concept
Despite the severity, >50% of individuals with PAD go undiagnosed because early symptoms can be According to the author, “This is a book for of the “Business Model” and the “Business Plan.”
difficult to detect by patients and because current screening tests for PAD take too long for most engineers and scientists who have the aptitude and I realize these concepts are often left for “business
primary care doctors to perform. In addition, approximately 25% of patients who undergo surgery to education to create value through new products that school” types, but again, in my experience, the “idea”
treat PAD require reintervention. become income-producing businesses for them as and “product” concepts are so central to the “value
well as for potential investors.” The structure of the
proposition” that the scientists and engineers who
material is suggested for use in a ten-week one-term want to be innovators really need to have a strong
Laser Associated Sciences, a medical device start-up course, either with a teacher or for self-study. There
incubating at the Beckman Laser Institute, has developed is also a companion website that contains backup appreciation for them and be able to provide input
in this regard. It always takes a “team” for a start-up
light-based technology to accurately measure blood flow. and additional material, which would be particularly to be successful, of course, but the “product” after all
Their first device – the FlowMet – is clipped onto a toe and useful if the reader chooses the self-study approach is the “secret sauce.”
but would also be helpful in a classroom environment
uses a low-power laser to instantly measure as well. The fundamental “construct” the author uses On balance, I consider Professor Swamidass’s
blood flow. Data collected using FlowMet is a Seven Phase process: Pre-Startup (Phases 1-3) book should be considered by any instructor as a
suggests that it can not only diagnose PAD followed by Execution (Phases 4-7). This construct candidate for acceptance as either the text, or at least
earlier and more accurately than current tests, works well with the author’s thesis that engineers’ and a reference, for a course focused on scientists and/or
engineers. That could be true for either graduate stu-
but that it can also improve surgical outcomes by scientists’ (his primary audience) primary contribu- dents or undergraduates based on the background of
giving surgeons the first real-time measurement tions to the complete process of innovation are in the the instructor. His book is complete but a bit “terse.”
area of the pre-startup. However, in the judgment of
of blood flow. This tells clinicians which surgical this reviewer, although I can accept the author’s thesis, Therefore, as a self-study, I am not as confident as
techniques and tools are most effective for restoring FlowMet blood flow in my experience, it is the execution phases where the for course use. The website helps in this regard but
limb-saving blood flow. training for scientists and engineers is the weakest. may not be sufficient.
measurement system A particularly strong contribution the author
makes is his attention to the importance of intellec- In 2014, Prof. Hutchinson received the NAE Bernard
tual property, something often missing in the training M. Gordon Prize with three others for the design and
of scientists, in particular. Not only does he do a implemenetation of Dartmouth’s Engineering Entre-
More information can be found at: good job of explaining the process of patenting, as preneurship Program.
www.laserassociatedsciences.com _____________________
Accepted April 15, 2017.
Corresponding Author: Charles E. Hutchinson, Dean Emeritus, Thayer School of Engineering, John H. Krehbiel Sr. Professor for Emerging Technologies,
Emeritus, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA. Tel: +1 (603) 646-3802; E-mail: Charles.Hutchinson@Dartmouth.edu

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