Recently, the Wall Street Journal published an article called “Workplace Wonderland,” which featured our creative workplace, Inventionland, and me, Davison’s CEO and founder!  Since the article was published, the United Inventors Association of America and Yahoo! Finance both republished the Journal’s post!

Because we received so much press in response to the Wall Street Journal article, I couldn’t help but share my excitement with you all! 

And, it turns out, I wasn’t the only one who was impressed with the article… or Inventionland for that matter!  Thanks to Yahoo! Finance, who reposted “Workplace Wonderland,” many admirers have shared their comments on “America’s largest invention factory!”

I’ve listed ten of the most creative comments below:

From Texas to Maryland to… Sweden… everyone’s noticing Inventionland!  So cool!

I always dreamed of being in the Wall Street Journal when I was a boy in my teens, reviewing the paper with my grandfather.  This is one of the best days of my life.  A moment to reflect and be grateful for wonderful people who have, are and will shape my life and the Mission of Davison.  Happy New Year!

George… Aka Mr. D

It’s quite an exhilarating feeling when you have an idea and you work really hard to bring it to the world.  Having an idea, like all my clients out there, is something that we share in common.

Something very special is happening here in the next couple of days.  An idea I had for a reality TV show about what we do will be airing on the History Channel at noon on Saturday, December 24th.

As I’m sitting here working with my team, they are telling me that I have it too good, because it’s my birthday on December 23rd, the show airs on the 24th and Christmas is the 25th!  So, this is going to be three days of bliss!

For me, though, the reward is getting the opportunity to have that feeling that idea people get when the world comes in contact with their creation for the first time.  It’s kind of like that tingle when you’re a kid waiting for Santa to arrive!  It’s truly going to be a magical holiday this season.

Happy holidays to all you idea people out there who dare to create something new!

I was happy to discover that goal is shared by Sawyer Business School at Suffolk University in Boston. The mission of the school’s annual New Product Innovation Competition is to help innovative students convert their ideas into tangible products. I have been honored to join them in their mission since 2007, when I was asked to be keynote speaker. Since that time, I have served as a judge of the competition and have joined Sawyer’s I2E (Idea to Execution) board.

What I like best about being a judge is that I’m able to identify with what these young people are going through and understand their dreams and aspirations because they’re so similar to what mine were 20-plus years ago. For me to be able to bring my experience and give to them something I wish I had back then means a lot to me. I feel a very special bond with each of these innovators – from their hopes to their struggles and more.”

My partnership with Dr. Sushil Bhatia, Executive in Residence at Sawyer, has resulted in opportunities to enhance the competition. Prof. Bhatia, who has co-developed or invented many products, including the Glue Stic, shares my passion for innovation. We have been working together to develop a model that will be used to expand the program. As a result, the winners of this year’s competition will have an opportunity to win cash and services to develop their idea, based on a 12-month Product Development Plan.

The involvement of Davison will be a key part of this plan, which is being launched in an effort to teach the young innovators how businesses develop new inventions in a practical way. We will be deploying the Davison Inventing Method on some of the winners’ ideas as part of our contribution, and will be developing them in sequence with the University so we can get academia and business working hand in hand.

We’re on a mission to pull some of the R&D out of our invention factory to enlighten and inspire these young people, because they’ll be able to physically see what was once in their mind slowly evolve into a physical product that meets the right manufacturability parameters, as well as packaging, communication and shelf requirements.

Prof. Bhatia, who also teaches workshops on innovation, recently favored me with some very kind comments in an interview concerning the New Product Innovation Competition.

“His involvement has been absolutely phenomenal,” said Bhatia. “George and his company have been extremely helpful… His vision of doing all these things is absolutely wonderful. He’s very giving with his money, time and service. You can’t ask for more than that.”

I am honored and grateful to receive praise from such an exemplary innovator.

George Davison ’82 hands Headmaster Chris Brueningsen EITC Support for Kiski

Pay Fewer Tax Dollars! Donate to Kiski and Support the School’s Scholarship Program by Taking Part in The Pennsylvania Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program. Support Kiski Students and Gain Rewarding Tax Credits for Your Business!

During the last five years, Kiski has received more than $1,000,000 in Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) support from Pennsylvania based businesses. Last year, in 2010, The Kiski School was awarded $195,000 in new scholarship funding from 19 local businesses that elected to participate in the Education Improvement Tax Credit program. The Kiski School uses the EITC affiliated funds to directly support need-based scholarships for students attending the School.

George Davison ’82, a proud and supportive Kiski graduate and a member of the School’s Board of Visitors is CEO of Davison Design & Development, Inc. George annually directs substantial financial support to Kiski and the School’s need-based scholarship program through the EITC program. George and his thriving company have consistently helped to provide worthy students with the unique opportunity to attend Kiski through the EITC scholarship program.

For more information about the many ways in which you can support Kiski and/or apply for EITC tax credits, please contact Steve Szilagyi ’88, Associate Headmaster for Institutional Advancement at 724-639-8028 or email steven.szilagyi@kiski.org. You may also visit https://www.kiski.org/giveonline to read more about the program.

The Kiski School | 1888 Brett Lane | Saltsburg, PA 15681 | 724-639-8029

So what’s the story? It’s simple – this is Americana 101. Everyone loves to grill out and hamburgers are one of the foods people love the most. This offers an easy way to put your favorite toppings inside the burger before you put them on the grill. It’s new, it’s wacky, it’s wonderful, and it’s just the kind of product that grabs the attention of all the big retail buyers, as well as a great number of consumers. They are likely the type of consumer that bought a Snuggie (over 20 million sold). We won’t be surprised if the Fill ‘N Grill hits those kinds of numbers!

My hat goes off to our team who, once again, employed the Davison Inventing Method and came up with another winner. Way to go, everyone, and congratulations to the inventors!

During the design process, the product evolved from a metal pan to silicone bakeware that remains cool to the touch and bends for easy removal of chewy treats from the 12 candy-bar shaped molds after baking. A rigid frame molded into the perimeter makes the pan safe to carry. Our client was “pleasantly surprised” about the addition of silicone, which, he said, made the product “even better.” A lot of consumers seem to agree, as the pan is getting 5-star ratings and great reviews on the websites of Bed, Bath & Beyond and Cooking.com. Joseph was also surprised and excited to learn his product was named 2010 Davison Product of the Year!

Although the road to success has not always been an easy one, Joseph never gave up on his idea, and he is now seeing his dream come true in ways he never imagined. Congratulations Joseph!

In order to create a great infomercial, you need a unique product that everyone can use, so as to appeal to a broad market. The trick is coming up with products that can benefit everyone and that offer a great value to the consumer, as well as a 500% mark-up. You also have to tell a good story that clearly demonstrates the problem and how it is easily solved with your product.

Buying TV time is very expensive, so if your design is not simple, efficient and manufacturable at a price point that can afford a 500% mark-up, you may as well forget it. Ultimately, few products will fit into that formula. It can be very tough for inventors and designers to create solutions that can fit inside such a model. Even the most experienced people in the business struggle with hitting that requirement, so infomercials are not for the novice.

One of our client’s inventions, called the Never Night, which we developed and licensed to a corporation for them, just hit the airwaves. It’s too early to tell if this client’s idea will be profitable, but at least he is giving it that chance. If you can’t develop the idea into a product that’s marked up 500% for TV, then it doesn’t matter how good the idea is, because the economics won’t work.

Take a moment to view the infomercial of the Never Night, another idea that went through the Davison method of inventing.

The popular Dog Wash and Hydro Bone that we created for Hugs Pet Products continue to gain a lot of fans — including top experts in the field. Both are winners of a 2010 DOG FANCY Editors’ Choice Award! They are among 16 winners (#2 and #5) featured in “Gear of the Year,” top picks of the best new dog products, as chosen by editors of Dog Fancy, “the world’s most widely read dog magazine.”

The editors stated in the just-released issue that they chose “the most wag-worthy goods that make owners’ lives easier and dogs’ lives better.” “Each product earned our seal of approval by offering innovative solutions to everyday problems or giving new life to an old idea,” they explained.

“It’s a great award to win, especially with hundreds of entries, and not only to win one award, but two,” said Davison’s VP of Licensing. “It’s a good accomplishment not only for Hugs but for Davison as well.”

The Editors’ Choice logo has been added to the product pages for the Hydro Bone and Dog Wash, a client product, so check out these award-winning Davison innovations! Click in to the image above to read the full article. You can also check it out on Dog Fancy’s website!

Congratulations to all who worked on these awesome products!

As exciting as that is, for those of you out there who get your kicks from design, raw material science, manufacturing process science, merchandising, packaging, and shipping efficiencies – you should have been here when those ideation sketches and concept models and prototypes were built. Inventions come in many shapes and sizes. This beautiful, simple pan has brought out that “surprise” feeling in everyone, from start to finish. Inspiration wins again.

Check out the segment on QVC’s website