'You have to be as much an educator as a technologist.

EE Times: What have you learned about disruptive innovation in your career?
Dean Kamen: What I have noticed is that, ironically, even in my short career, the rate at which new technologies are becoming available is accelerating, but the rate at which people adapt themselves has not changed discernibly. So, if anything, the frustration level of an innovator will go up.

In the last 10 years, if you list what has happened in genetics and computing capability and the Internet—take any field you want—the rate at which our capabilities are multiplying is far exceeding the average person's capabilities to stay current with them. So disruptive technology introduction is now more than ever limited by people's abilities to absorb new ideas.

EET: What does that mean for companies whose business is technology innovation?
Kamen: You have to be as much an educator as a technologist. You have to be able to articulate what's new in the change you are asking people to accept, what the benefits are.

EET: What are companies doing today that stifles innovation?
Kamen: A lot of companies get comfortable and focused on what they are doing, and when the world changes they are too busy to notice. Once a company has a successful product up and running, it's a full-time job to keep it that way. I think most adults unfortunately are risk-averse.

EET: What should companies do to encourage risk?
Kamen: Companies reserve a financial budget for R&D, but I don't think they put a specific effort into creating the same boundaries around the nonfinancial risks of getting R&D done. They don't allow people to fail in some way. When we are doing R&D, it's OK to let people fail in their project—not fail as a person but as a project. If we could create an environment where the project can fail, but the people learn from it and move on, you would see people be more effective at generating disruptive technologies.

EET: What do we need to change in the education system to better nurture the next generation of innovators?
Kamen: Education, by design, is not highly innovative. For the core of what kids need, that's OK. But just like in a company, there should be some amount of money and resources looking at the exciting changes that are possible. We need to give kids a real taste of creative problem solving and how fun and rewarding it is to understand technology and be able to apply it.

EET: Is this how your First [For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology] program of high school robotics competitions came about?
Kamen: Yes. I was very frustrated about 15 years ago that so many kids, particularly women and minorities, were opting out of even considering careers in science and technology. I looked at this and thought, It's not an education problem, it's a cultural problem. In this country, our culture has brutally convinced women and minorities, in particular, by the time they are 12 years old, that the exciting careers are in Hollywood or sports. So I said, OK, let's fight fire with fire. If sports and entertainment drive kids, let's create a [technology] program that competes head-to-head with the NBA and Hollywood.

I convinced 20-some companies—big guys like Boeing and Motorola—to adopt a school and let the kids see the world-class athletes of technology, the Shaquille O'Neals and Britney Spearses of electronics and controls and software. When these kids see these awesome people who are every bit as excited about their careers as Shaquille, the kids will decide this isn't just for a bunch of nerds. Last year, we took the First finals to the home of the 1996 Olympics, the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. We had something like a thousand teams from 30 regional events.

EET: What innovations do you see on the horizon today?
Kamen: Soon everybody will be able to walk around with a chip in their pocket that has their entire medical history on it. That in itself could have a bigger impact on the cost and quality of health care than a whole lot of the breakthroughs people are assuming will come from the world of genomics.