Dean Kamen on Inventions & The Utility of the Future

ORIGINAL: IBM Labs

Earlier this month IBM Research hosted the inaugural Smarter Energy Research Institute Conference (SERI) where current energy and utility members from across the globe came to share and demonstrate prototype applications that represent the beginning of the next generation of analytics for the utility industry. The Institute is a collaborative consortium with a select group of energy companies with the goal of accelerating innovation across the utilities industry.

Dean Kamen, IBM

Famed inventor and creator of the Segway Personal Transporter, Dean Kamen, delivered the keynote address to attendees during the first day of the conference, where he shared details on his latest invention, as well as his mission to build the next generation of inventors by inspiring today's students to explore science and mathematics.

The IBM Research team met with Kamen before the conference to get his views on a range of topics including

• how imagination is the most valuable thing that an inventor has; 
• his pursuit of an innovative solution to provide drinkable water to the two billion humans currently living without it and how it works; and  
• what the utility of the future may look like.