The Independent Inventor: What it takes to succeed

Speaker : Dr. Casey Chan Kwan-Ho MD Visiting Research Professor, NUS

Date : July 8, 1999 (Thursday)

Time : 6.30 pm - 8.00 pm

Venue : Engineering Auditorium (Block EA) Faculty of Engineering, NUS

Abstract

This talk deals with the special circumstances an independent inventor has to face in the development and commercialization of his inventions. Beginning with the conceptualization through to the licensing phase, many pitfalls await the independent inventor. This presenter shares his twelve years of experience as an independent inventor with the audience. The independent inventor deals exclusively with intangible assets such as patent rights, trade secrets and copyrights. Management of intangible assets is much more elusive than management of physical assets. It is important for the independent inventor to have a basic understanding of the concept of intellectual properties so that he can make informed decision on the disposition of his intangible assets. This talk is illustrated with actual case histories and examples from successful independent inventors.

About the Speaker

Casey Chan is an orthopedic surgeon from Lubbock, Texas. He is currently Visiting Research Professor at the National University of Singapore. He is also an aerospace engineer and was an engineering consultant for the Institute for Aerospace Studies, University of Toronto. He was the former Director of Orthopedic Research at Montreal General Hospital, McGill University. In addition to his orthopedic practice, he is also an inventor and a consultant to several orthopedic equipment manufacturers. A bone cement mixing system he designed is widely used in joint replacement surgery in the United States. He has 16 US patents in the area of surgical devices and 10 other patents pending in areas such as vacuum mixing of bone cement, arthroscopic knot tier, arthroscopy guides, coring drills, suture passer, bone plug and computer mouse. Dr. Chan holds a masters degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Toronto, Canada. He received his medical degree from University of Toronto in 1978 and completed his orthopedic surgery residency at the University of Toronto Teaching Hospitals. He is certified in Sports Medicine by the Canadian Academy of Sports Medicine. He is also an active member of the Arthroscopy Association of North America and the Orthopedic Research Society.

We are pleased to invite you and your colleagues to attend the talk. Light refreshments will be available from 6.00pm - 6.30pm. Please confirm your attendance, via e-mail to joannesim@nus.edu.sg by 5 July 1999. Attendance is free.