CHAPTER 6
Why My Innovation Means You Have to Change
Societal Innovation Constraints
At the time he conceived it, Dean Kamen believed that the Segway Personal Transporter would literally change the world. Early specifications said that the machine—code-named It—would weigh about eighty pounds, move at a top speed of 12 mph, and have an eleven-mile range. Despite the rather low ceiling on its speed and range, Kamen envisioned the Segway replacing noisy, smelly, polluting automobiles, especially in cities, by providing convenient transportation to all points within its range, and, because it could be driven to mass transit stations ...
