Designs that created companies in Australia

摘要

Eighteen instances of Australian inventors who recently began companies to exploit their first commercial design have been identified from 220 case studies of industrial innovations. They have some features in common: they were all male, they all financed their prototypes from personal sources, and they all had personal needs which triggered the desire to invent a solution. The technical skills of each differed significantly, and the more successful inventors were not the more highly trained. All companies used traditional step-by-step development processes, but those which advanced most rapidly raised additional capital by selling a share of the intellectual property.