Utah: a seedbed for inventors; International Inventors Conference comes to Logan.

• Author: Walker, Elizabeth T.

Utah: A Seedbed for Inventors

To the uninitiated, inventors are visionaries who grab hold of their dreams and, like modern-day alchemists, somehow transform them into income-producing commodities complete with patents. If only it were that easy.

A Good Idea Is Just the Start

For today's inventor a good idea is just the start. A carefully wrought business plan, wellhoned marketing skills, a lawyer's grasp of patent laws, capital and a supportive environment are a few of the basics an inventor needs to successfully take a good idea from seed (the lab or garage) to the marketplace. The critical path from concept to commercialization was the theme of a recent conference that drew inventors from around the world to Sherwood Hills Resort, located in northern Utah's magnificent Wellsville Canyon.

A joint conference for members of the International Federation of Inventors Associations (IFIA) and the National Congress of Inventors Organizations (NCIO) sparked lively information exchanges on many issues including the harmonization of international patent laws, the role of women inventors, and the first-to-file verses first-to-invent systems of patent property rights. The conference was hosted by NCIO.

A "Seedbed" for Inventors

E. Cordell Lundahl, NCIO vice president and president of Ezra C. Lundahl, Inc. in Logan, was instrumental in bringing this international community of inventors to Utah. Lundahl, the U.S. representative to IFIA and an inventor in his own right, knows better than most the difficulties of developing, manufacturing and marketing an intellectual property or invention. He holds nearly 150 patents, many of them for high-tech farm machinery.

Lundahl, who served as moderator for the conference, introduced the keynote speaker, Utah Governor Norman Bangerter, by calling him a strong supporter of new technology development. The governor noted the appropriateness of inventors convening in Utah given the state's rich entrepreneurial heritage. That tradition continues to make Utah a veritable "seedbed" for inventors and new technology. The state has remained among the top 10 in the nation for the number of patents awarded during the past 20 years. Also, Utah ranks third in the U.S. for the amount of university research dollars (per capita) that come into the state annually.

"Every state has people whose accomplishments serve to inspire those who follow," Bangerter told the conferees. "Out of respect for these people and their ideals, we must...