The Three-Legged Stool of Innovation
A three-legged stool never wobbles and thus serves as an engineering design metaphor, illustrating that all parts harmonize to ensure the functionality of the product. Innovation, like creativity, is not readily teachable but there are three legs that harmonize to make inventions happen. This talk explains the three legs of innovation through the perspective and experience of the engineer/scientist who invented the angioplasty balloon catheter, several coronary stents, ocular devices to stop glaucoma and new biomaterials that have changed the practice of medicine over the last 35 years, setting the stage for the next generation of implantable medical devices.
Leonard Pinchuk, Ph.D. has over 140 U.S. patents, more than 100 publications and has founded over 10 companies. His major accomplishments include the invention of angioplasty balloons, helical wire stents, modular stent-grafts, drug-eluting stents, radiation oncology catheters, urinary catheters, glaucoma treatment shunts and intraocular lenses; as well as two important biomaterials, polycarbonate urethane and SIBS. His inventions are used in over a billion patients worldwide, with a financial impact well over $100 billion. Dr. Pinchuk is a member of the National Academy of Engineering as well as the coveted Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida. He is also the recipient of the 2019 Russ Prize in Engineering for developing the field of angioplasty and stenting.
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