February 2019
Dave Zedonis (president, Indiana Inventors Association; principal, Z*Tech ; patentee ) treated us to a discussion on how to successfully invent and innovate. Inventing is in our genes. It gave our ancestors the edge they needed to prosper in hostile environments and gives us hope today for a better tomorrow. Almost everyone invents to some extent and for a variety of reasons. If you invent to make money, solve an important, widespread, and widely known problem. Working or playing in any technical field will acquaint you with such problems. Chatting with or surveying experts and workers in technical fields (eg, at trade shows) can do the same. Solving such problems avoids a barrier to entering the market—the need to educate potential customers on the benefits of your invention. Stick with a problem that interests you. Solving an important problem can easily take 3 or 4 years. Developing a working prototype of your invention can help you learn more about th