creating disruptive technologies
Maintain technology leadership position in surgical vessel sealing.
Vessel sealing is a highly profitable and relatively mature technology. Competition within the space is increasing, and within a few years the existing patents will begin to expire. The challenge was to substantially improve a highly functional and mature technology.
I proposed that we improve our understanding of the basic parameters of vessel sealing with the specific goal of improving the reliability of the seals. While the program was designed to deliver improved reliability, the most likely outcome (stated at the outset) was that we would learn how to create an improved vessel sealing technology.
I built a small (2-3 people) and very talented team to pursue this project. The program played out as proposed. As our understanding developed, we were able to create new vessel sealing technologies.
Within two weeks of the first lab book sketches of a new approach to vessel sealing, we created a functional proof-of-concept prototype that performed as predicted. We immediately changed the direction of the program and focused on the refinement of the new technology.
The result was the creation of a new tissue sealing technology dramatically exceeding the performance of the existing technology. My team successfully brought the technology to a product-ready state including in vivo testing and in vivo user (surgeon) evaluation.