Awareness can spark ideas, inventor says

SANDY — Having a positive attitude is a common thread among inventors, but a patent attorney and inventor told a crowd Friday that a keen sense of awareness can spark an idea that becomes a commercial product.

Vaughn North, a founding partner of Thorpe North & Western, told about 50 entrepreneurial-minded Edisons that his own invention to capture the energy of ocean waves came from watching how water moved through sand as he walked on a beach.

"We need to foster that high sensitivity if we want to be prolific inventors. The more you are aware, the more you understand it," North said at UtahInventor.org first-ever Inventor Symposium.

He even suggested that people "become conscious of high-level awareness until it's subconscious."

The next step is linking the technologies, he said, and that stems from learning. "We're blessed with the Internet. If you have time, you ought to pick a field to become an expert. I would not try to master the whole world of knowledge that the Internet provides. But what turns you on? What is it out there that you get excited about? Then fill your head with knowledge. It's so available, and it won't cost you a dime, to start studying everything you can read. Become very knowledgeable in this area, tie that into your high sense of awareness and then just enjoy life. As you walk around and you see things, you're going to begin to see things start connecting."

Most of the money being made in the patent world is from improvements to existing products rather than brand-new concepts, he said. Inventor Woody Norris' products included a slow-speed tape recorder and a miniature radio that fits in the ear.

"Why did he do that? He was thinking. He was aware. He saw somebody with a hearing aid, and says, 'I know hearing aids. I know radio. Why don't we have a radio you stick in your ear?'" North said.

That kind of basic questioning also led to Norris' sound-cancelling telephone. "That's not a hard invention. Just awareness," North said.

A positive attitude also doesn't hurt. North said he loves being a patent attorney because every day he works with people who are positive, optimistic and generally honest.

"I never met a negative person who was a very good inventor, a person who was constantly criticizing or finding fault or having a difficult time. ... "There is just a certain personality that seems to foster creativity."

And he believes inspiration is over-rated.