Phil Weilerstein is executive director of the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance. The NCIIA helps collegiate inventor-entrepreneurs commercialize their ideas. Under his guidance since 1995, the NCIIA has stimulated the launch of 70 companies and secured more than 40 patents. The NCIIA’s mission dovetails with that of Inventors Digest – both are engaged at the intersection of business and innovation. We’re also a media partner for its March Madness for the Mind event in San Francisco. Phil was kind enough to chat with us for this month’s installment.
ID: Give us your take on the state of U.S. innovation.
PW: We went through a period from like the late ‘60s to the early ‘90s where there wasn’t a lot of focus on invention as a particularly American thing. I’m interested to see how this develops over the next several years. I think there’s a scientific and engineering renaissance afoot. Clearly, much of what constituted American economic advantages has evaporated with regard to our ability to manufacture things. I’m looking for a new model for innovation. One of these areas is a service-based economy. When people think of innovation, they often think of widgets. But some of the biggest areas of opportunity don’t have a physical embodiment, such as software technology.
ID: How has the NCIIA helped launch startup companies?
PW: We’ve always focused on education through an experiential approach – going after a real-world objective, typically one that’s economically and environmentally sustainable. The focus is on students acting as inventors and entrepreneurs. We’ve provided a setting to create products and in some cases launch a business. Seventy companies so far that have raised millions in capital and created hundreds of jobs.
ID: What are some of the more interesting inventions or innovations you’ve seen emerge from NCIIA participants?
PW: There’s a company called BullEx, they make and sell and service a product for the fire-safety market. It’s used in fire-extinguisher training. Heretofore, (fire departments) created big fires and a mess in the parking lot when training. The students came up with a gas grill on steroids. The initial prototype was a little scary, but it worked. They’ve since come up with a fire-free simulation.
Another company in upstate New York is called Ecovative Design. It’s developed a non-chemical, biologically based replacement for polystyrene and fiberglass for packaging. It’s made out of fungi.
ID: What are the particular strengths of the NCIIA and what would you like to see the NCIIA do better?
PW: We’re doing a pretty good job of integrating innovation and helping students move ahead with their ideas. It doesn’t take super-human genius – you don’t have to be Dean Kamen. We have a growing community of faculty who share that belief with us in bringing entrepreneurship literacy into the coursework.
One of the areas I would like to see us more involved is in the sciences – more opportunities for scientists to engage their ideas and move them forward. It’s complex to bring bio-sciences into commercial products, but the pathway needs to be there. One of the areas we’re interested in focusing more on is service innovation, identifying ways where delivery of services becomes inventive work.
ID: What’s new for 2010?
PW: We have March Madness for the Mind, it’s in San Francisco, March 26-27. We’re rolling out workshops for faculty on how to teach more effective design and innovation, as well as hosting a venture forum.
Another new thing is our research-to-innovation program. It’s targeted at scientists and researchers and focuses on recognizing (business) opportunities in the basic research work they’re doing.
