ABSTRACT
I would like to share a personal anecdote to emphasize the need for a process to transfer developed designs to manufacturing and ultimately the market.
A common practice in the eld of dental or orthopedic surgery is that innovative tools and techniques developed by thought-leaders are supported by manufacturers in these elds. Once there is strong evidence that a new tool has been successfully used, manufacturing organizations collaborate with its inventor(s) to fully develop the tool and bring it to market. I had been a design engineer for a leading dental instrument manufacturer when a periodontist proposed a hand tool to enable general practitioners place implants in their patients’ mouths.
