Inventions an industry in itself.

Hundreds of inventions pass by Mike Gauthier's desk every year; so many in fact, that inventing has become an industry in itself.

Mike and Denise Gauthier, owners of Deviat Product Development Services in Greater Sudbury, are becoming well known among bankers, business organizations, institutions and Northern Ontario angel investors.

Their job brings them in line with inventors from the North, each hoping their idea will make it to market.

"I see more than one (invention) a day," Mike Gauthier says.

Out of the hundreds that pass by his desk annually, approximately four inventions are launched into the market-place a year.

"Out of about 100 inventions a year, we would lose about 70 per cent on patentablity," he discloses.

Out of the remaining 30 per cent, he says approximately half would have no market appeal.

"We are looped with the buying groups and we see what they want, what is working and what is not," he remarks.

Gauthier prides himself on being the strict devils' advocate.

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"If I have issues with your product, I put them on the table. I'm either hated or loved for it. In the end I am loved for it," he says.

His role in the development of the product is to be personally detached, thereby ensuring an objective view, not only in the inventive process, but in all the areas that ensure the product's success.

A common error inventors make is in the complexity of an invention, Gauthier says.

"People tend to over-complicate their inventions. The KISS rule really works here," he explains.

The most successful inventions they have seen are relatively simple.

Their fee schedule begins when a patentability search is done on the product; followed by a commercialization rating system if there are lingering doubts over the success of the product.

"It touches on those many topics that need to be dealt with. You may have strength in most areas, but a major weakness could bar success," Gauthier comments.

The inventions that do proceed to the next step usually become stymied due to funding challenges, but that too is changing. The Nickel Basin Federal Development Corp. just approved $380,000 in funding for another invention that will be hitting the market in the New Year.

Being the intellectual property representative for Northern Ontario for Industry Canada, Gauthier draws inventors from a 200-kilometre radius of their Sudbury operation. He organizes events with representatives from business and economic sectors, including funding agencies with the government and community organizations to help inventors find ways to bring their ideas to fruition.

By KELLY LOUISEIZE

Northern Ontario Business 

Photo by Kelly Louiseize