Spirit of da Vinci.

• Author: Peterson, Eric

From solar breakthroughs to "a snot sucker"--as one attendee described the BabyComfyNose nasal aspirator--the fifth annual Colorado Inventor Showcase was marked by a strong turnout and a wide spectrum of innovations.

Da Vinci Institute founder and event organizer Tom Frey held court in full Leonardo da Vinci garb to celebrate the spirit of creativity at the Nov. 3 competition, held at the Cable Center on the campus of the University of Denver.

The key to future innovation is getting kids interested in inventing at an early age, said keynote speaker Joshua Schuler, the executive director of the Lemelson-MIT Program.

"Engineering design is like sunrise and sunset--it happens every day. There might be lightning--that's invention. Innovation is getting that invention into the marketplace. Invention is only innovation when it enters the market."

By alternating PowerPoint slides of Britney Spears and Dean Kamen, Schuler pointed out that even the biggest superstar inventors are not very recognizable. "This is a problem. We don't know who these folks are, but we know who she is. This is our whole mission: getting kids into inventing.

"Young people don't understand you can have a career in the international development of technology," Schuler added. "You need to create a community. You need to support students and give them opportunity to do things -like fail."

His parting advice: "Make stuff. Build stuff. Essentially, it's choose your own adventure."

INVENTOR OF THE YEAR

STEVE SCHMUTTER

FOUNDER OF FIREFLY MEDICAL FORT COLLINS

"I was an RN for about 12 years, with most of that time working in the ICU," said Steve Schmutzer via e-mail. "My experiences in nursing were sufficiently diverse to allow me to grapple firsthand with the problems which Firefly Medical is addressing now."

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Schmutzer incorporated the company in the summer of 2005 based on his nursing experience in the intensive care setting.

"My time in nursing showed me that some of the equipment nurses were expected to use while providing patient care was largely unchanged for many decades," he said. "These products were originally designed when expectations of health care were quite different, but in the unforgiving environment and demands of modern health care, these products are now a liability."

Schmutzer saw the ubiquitous intravenous pole as a product ripe for improvement and devised the Infusion Management System, or IMS. The multiple-armed triangular design can handle multiple IV bags, automatically centers its weight, and folds down for vertical storage, unlike the space-gobbling status quo.

"During my years in clinical practice, I had many opportunities to consider the vices of the IV pole," Schmutzer said. "I had to deal with this archaic product every...