The Impact of Lemelson-MIT Prize Winners' Inventions
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C O R P O R A T I O N BENJAMIN M. MILLER, DAVID METZ, JON SCHMID, PAIGE M. RUDIN, MARJORY S. BLUMENTHAL Measuring the Value of Invention The Impact of Lemelson-MIT Prize Winners’ Inventions For more information on this publication, visit www.rand.org/t/RRA838-1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this publication. ISBN: 978-1-9774-0654-5 Published by the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif. © Copyright 2021 RAND Corporation R® is a registered trademark. Cover photos: The Lemelson-MIT Program Limited Print and Electronic Distribution Rights This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited. Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. 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Support RAND Make a tax-deductible charitable contribution at www.rand.org/giving/contribute www.rand.org Preface For the past 25 years, the Lemelson–Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Program has given an annual $500,000 prize to a mid-career inventor whose work offers a significant value to society, has improved lives and communities, and has been adopted or has a high probability of being adopted for practical use. The Lemelson-MIT Program and the Lemelson Foundation asked the RAND Corporation to provide a careful and impartial assessment of the value provided to society by the inventions of recipients of the Lemelson-MIT Prize. This report provides that assessment, considering impact in aggregate by all prize winners and impact through individual case studies of prize winners from three particular years. The work is intended to be of interest to groups that engage in diverse efforts to support invention and innovation, policymakers seeking guidance on the benefits of supporting invention, and the general reader. RAND Social and Economic Well-Being is a division of the RAND Corporation that seeks to actively improve the health and social and economic well-being of populations and communities throughout the world. This research was conducted in the Community Health and Environmental Policy Program within RAND Social and Economic Well-Being. The program focuses on such topics as infrastructure, science and technology, community design, community health promotion, migration and population dynamics, transportation, energy, and climate and the environment, as well as other policy concerns that are influenced by the natural and built environment, technology, and community organizations and institutions that affect well-being. For more information, email [email protected]. iii Contents Preface ........................................................................................................................................... iii Figures ............................................................................................................................................ vi Tables ........................................................................................................................................... vii Summary ...................................................................................................................................... viii Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................... x Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................. xi 1. Introduction and Context ............................................................................................................. 1 Purpose and Structure of This Report ....................................................................................................... 1 About the Lemelson-MIT Prize ................................................................................................................ 3 Inequity Limits Societal Benefits .............................................................................................................. 6 2. The Impacts of Lemelson-MIT Prize Winners’ Inventions......................................................... 8 How Invention Leads to Impacts .............................................................................................................. 8 Logic Model .......................................................................................................................................... 8 Pathways of Proliferation .................................................................................................................... 11 Measuring Impacts .................................................................................................................................. 15 Scientific Impact ................................................................................................................................. 16 Technological Impact .......................................................................................................................... 19 Economic and Social Impacts ............................................................................................................. 23 3. Boyer and Cohen: Recombinant DNA Technology .................................................................. 26 Overview of Inventions ........................................................................................................................... 27 Scientific Impact ..................................................................................................................................... 32 Technological Impact .............................................................................................................................. 34 Economic and Social Impacts ................................................................................................................. 37 Cetus Corporation ............................................................................................................................... 37 Genentech ............................................................................................................................................ 38 Stanford University and the University of California ......................................................................... 44 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 45 4. Hood: The DNA Sequencer and Modern Scientific Instruments .............................................. 47 Overview of Inventions ........................................................................................................................... 48 Gas-Liquid Phase Protein/Peptide Sequencer ..................................................................................... 49 DNA Synthesizer ................................................................................................................................ 50 Protein Synthesizer .............................................................................................................................. 51 DNA Sequencer .................................................................................................................................. 51 Scientific Impact ..................................................................................................................................... 52 Technological Impact .............................................................................................................................. 56 Economic and Social Impacts ................................................................................................................. 59 California Institute of Technology ...................................................................................................... 59 iv The Human Genome Project ............................................................................................................... 59 Applied Biosystems ............................................................................................................................ 60 Amgen ................................................................................................................................................. 63 Institute for Systems Biology .............................................................................................................. 66 Involvement in Other Organizations ................................................................................................... 67 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 69 5. Bertozzi: Glycoscience and Bioorthogonal