Scooter creator to Maine business leaders: Foster innovation

AUGUSTA – The inventor of the Segway scooter told technology business leaders Tuesday they should take steps to make scientists and inventors as celebrated as movie stars and professional athletes.

Dean Kaman urged people attending the MaineTech conference to let their engineers and scientists speak at schools to encourage students in science and innovation.

He said getting young people to admire science is necessary to reverse what he said is a continuing decline in American students’ math and science skills.

“Kids are taught to idolize people like Michael Jordan,” Kaman said. “Companies have slogans like, ‘Life is short, play hard.’ How about, ‘Life is short, work hard?’

“We have a culture that puts sports and entertainment above all else. And kids get into what you celebrate. Why can’t we get kids to celebrate science and learning?”

Kamen is the creator of the Segway Human Transporter, the self-balancing, two-wheeled electric transport device that Kamen views as an environmentally friendly alternative to the automobile. He once said the Segway would “be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy.”

Kamen rode a Segway to and from the podium for his speech at the Augusta Civic Center. The MaineTech conference, the first of its kind, brought together Maine companies that produce innovative products and technologies.

Besides being chairman of Segway LLC of Manchester, N.H., Kamen is the founder of a nonprofit organization dedicated to motivating the next generation of potential scientists.

He said employers can foster innovation by allowing workers to fail as they attempt new endeavors. But the development of technology itself is not innovation if there is a simpler way of doing the same thing, he said.