Inventions an industry in itself.

• Author: Louiseize, Kelly
• Position: Deviat Product Development Services

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...