Kodak honors its elite inventors

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Jeffrey Clarke began as CEO in March with a big challenge ahead of him: taking the company that emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy a year ago and building it into a successful, profitable firm.

Eastman Kodak Co. held its annual Distinguished Inventors Celebration Wednesday night at the George Eastman House to honor its elite inventors.

“What you have here is you’ve got the all-star team of innovation,” CEO Jeffrey Clarke said. “The concept of even creating a patent itself is extraordinary but then when you’ve created 20 or 40 or 200 patents, you really find people who are so prolific that they stand out.

“The core of our innovation is here in Rochester and the support we get from the universities and the ecosystem of all the imaging entrepreneurs is really exciting.”

The event recognized 77 scientists who hold more than 20 patents and two scientists who have reached the milestone of over 100 patents for the company. Combined, the staffers hold 3,325 patents in a range of areas.

On average, those honored held at least 40 patents, with many topping founder George Eastman’s 32 registered patents.

“Kodak has chosen to take on the hardest scientific problems—not just moderate iterations of products but breakthrough type technologies,” Clarke said.  “(The) companies (that) are multibillion dollar companies, they’ll try to get a new product cycle out every 18 months (but) we at Kodak are trying to push science to its bleeding edge.

“What we’re finding is that we’re doing that really successfully. That’s the thing that drew me to Kodak—taking on big problems and having the opportunity to create great markets.”

Lee Tutt, Yongcai Wang, and Mridula Nair each hold more than 100 patents, and received the Century Inventors Award. Ronald Cok has reached over 200 patents and was awarded the Presidential Inventor Award earlier this year.

“It’s a huge milestone,” Nair said. “I’m really honored and I share this milestone really with all my co-inventors because I wouldn’t be here without them. I have so much faith in this company and its founder George Eastman. He has really inspired me and he was a great inventor. His vision is still carrying us on today.”

She added: “I think we still have the spirit within us in spite of (everything) those embers are still burning. We may look like a very small company right now but the fact is we are a small company with a huge patent base so it puts us in an advantaged position.”

Completing patents requires focus and multiple ways of viewing a problem, Tutt said. He finds identifying a problem can often be the hardest part of the process.

“It’s identifying a problem and then coming up with new novel way of solving it that is better in certain ways—more efficient, maybe more artistic or generally it just feels right,” he said. “It’s hard to describe that but you know it when you do it. Once you actually identify what the real problem is (then) the solutions become obvious.”

Rochester’s thoughts about Kodak might not be updated. The research and development segment of the company continues to move the nearly 130-year-old company forward, Kodak officials said.

“It’s a tremendous asset of this company,” said Terry Taber, chief technical officer and senior vice president. “It’s going to create just an amazing set of future products that will unfold over the next few years or couple of decades. I’m not sure that it’s fully recognized or appreciated any longer but it is its still here and it’s still strong.”

CEO Clarke discussed Kodak’s new approach to patents and the marketplace. He has been CEO since March.

“Kodak for many years had the luxury of having a multibillion dollar film business and that film business paid a lot of bills,” he said. “I think we needed to be more pragmatic and part of pragmatism is understanding that yes we’ll have products that will become billion-dollar industries but there’s enormous innovation here that we need to get to market in other ways.”

The company actively is seeking out new partners and methods to bring patents to market. Connecting with industry is imperative, officials said.

“This agility that Kodak has now to be able to meet with venture capitalists and show them technologies, meet with partners that in the past may have been competitors or even in a completely different industry…,’’ Clarke said. “These underlying intellectual property breakthroughs are as applicable to new industries so we’re going to put a little bit more business development around this technology and we’re going to go to market in different ways.”

Diversifying outside of the company will lead to a future for the company, Clarke said.

“Having our technology into products across a broad set of industries is a more sustainable and safer future than trying to do everything ourselves,” he said. “Partnering is a new part of the Kodak culture and it’s one that we’re embracing very closely.”

Despite its troubles in the recent past, the company understands its strengths.

“What’s really exciting is to think about a company that’s struggled over the last few years— went into Chapter 11, came out of Chapter 11—but the ability of our scientists and engineers to keep a focus on innovation (and) on invention has not been deterred,” Taber said. “We’re still producing inventions at a rate that’s much higher than expected for a company of our size. Really it’s at a world class rate (and) that’s exciting.”

The region is still crucial to the company and Kodak hopes to contribute to the region’s success, officials said. Three key products: the Kodak Flexcel Direct System, the Kodak Sonora Plates and Kodak Prosper are expected to increase business in the coming decades.

“This area is still one of jewels within the U.S. and I would say within in the world,” Taber said. “When you think about the brain power that’s in this region and it’s not just the scientists who are with Kodak but it’s the scientists who have left Kodak who’ve done a lot of startups.”

As of March the company had 2,300 local workers and 3,600 worldwide.

“We spend $100 million a year in research and development (and) a significant portion of that is in Rochester; it is our largest research operation,” CEO Clarke said. “In Rochester we make the film, we make the inks, we make the toner, we manufacture the electro photographic presses—it is the core not only of our headquarters because we’re here but it’s the core of our underlying technology.”

He added: “And so for those who have grown up in Rochester and have known Kodak for many years—we’re still here, we’re growing and we’re going to be here for a long time.”

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