Democratizing Invention: Why Users Often Know Best

A problem that has stumped engineers for decades: How to make it easy (and not scary) for consumers to collect large blood samples at home?

A solution that was hidden in plain sight. ?

Ridhi Tariyal, engineer and entrepreneur

Her work has led to a new device that is currently, this technology is in clinical trials and may yield entirely new kinds of data sets related to women's health

“What we find is that functionally novel innovations — those for which a market is not yet defined — tend to come from users.”– Eric von Hippel, MIT economist

What percentage of patent holders in the tampon space are male?

SKIN IN THE GAME

According to economist Erik von Hippel:

- Users know the problem firsthand

- They're motivated to find the most-effective and least-painful solution

To push for their solutions, users often have to fight against political, social and financial interests.

The Promise and Limitations of Big Data

Atul Butte, head of UCSF Institute for Computational Health Sciences

“Public data is like no other commodity in the world. It's not like oil or land. Instead, it's replenishable and usable by anyone.” – Atul Butte

Pre-Biomarkers:

By the time a monitor picks up a change in our body, damage has already been done. Why not identify diseases and toxins BEFORE they enter our bodies?