IDiyas Q&A: Meet inventor Esmael Dinan, Ofinno Founder/CTO with 1331+ Granted Patents!

Inventor Esmael Dinan has more than twenty years of research and development experience with tech firms such as WorldCom, Bechtel Communications, Sprint, and Clearwire. He led research and development projects in areas of wireless and wireline networking technologies that included LTE Advanced, Evolved Packet Core, 5G New Radio, and 5G Core Networks. While leading and inspiring the Ofinno team, he never stops his own research — he has over one thousand granted or pending patent applications in his name. Esmael received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia in 2001.

Where did your inspiration to invent come from? 

Some of it comes from inside, and some comes from working with other prolific inventors. When I am interested in learning something, I become obsessed with studying it in extreme detail and don’t take any of the details for granted. I am very critical of the materials that I study and always look for opportunities for improvement.

I pay attention to many details that I believe most people just accept or ignore. Some people think that I unnecessarily make simple things too complex because I am so focused on details. However, it is this detail-oriented approach that helps me observe inefficiencies in what I am studying.

And after I observe these inefficiencies, I start my analysis to figure out different ways to improve them. I think that my brain is just wired to work like that.

Throughout my career I worked on many diverse topics, and I think that helps me invent better. I can focus on details while being able to see the big picture. Now that I lead a larger team, my team members have a huge role in keeping me motivated and inspired. It is hard to over emphasize the positive impacts that team members have on each other. It is not possible to keep inventing for a long period of time, unless you are surrounded by team members that keep each other inspired and motivated. 

Out of your many inventions, which invention are you most proud of? 

I am most proud of my first inventions that I filed during my PhD studies on wireless backhaul technologies. The first technology that I invented in Ofinno was on improving a secure wireless mobile payment system. That invention brought the first revenue for Ofinno. We invented some of the most amazing features in LTE-Advanced and 5G wireless technologies, some of which have been built into newer smartphones. 5G wireless technology brings ultrafast wireless speeds to people and machines.

Some other patented technologies were the results of weeks of discussions and meetings that went late into the night. Some others were so difficult to get approval from the patent office. These are the things that make my inventions special to me. For me, it is all about the memories and the team that is involved during the process.

How do you bring your ideas to life? 

I bring them to life by organizing them in a systematic way and then writing them down in detail. Drawing detailed figures and writing the specifications help me organize my thoughts and work on various practical aspects of my ideas and to integrate them into existing technologies.

As I write, I get to organize my thoughts and work on additional solutions. I typically review my writings numerous times and think about what can be done to further enable implementation of the invention.

What is your advice for developing the mindset and skills needed to become a prolific inventor? 

There is no quick way to become a prolific inventor. It takes continuous hard work and persistence for a long period of time. I mean decades. If you want to be a prolific inventor you need to look at inventing as a complex, detailed and repeatable process. You need to surround yourself with other prolific inventors. It is not possible to do it alone. Then you need to have a sort of obsession and patience in learning the details. You should develop a method for identifying opportunities for improving existing technologies.

The natural next step is to analyze already existing solutions and come up with a novel and non-obvious solution to the problems that you identified. Then, you should discuss your solutions with other inventors to make sure that you are not missing something. They can help you refine your solutions or come up with new solutions to the problem. This type of synergy among prolific inventors is what helped Ofinno become home to many prolific inventors. 

Famously, you’ve said that you want your company, Ofinno, to have the greatest number of prolific inventors. What do you look for when hiring for an inventing role? Will you share a specific practice or practices that you and/or your company embrace to nurture inventors? 

We look at the candidate’s history. If they have invented before, then we interview them by asking questions about what they did. Based on our experience, hiring someone without any experience in inventing is quite risky.

After they are hired, we let them focus in research areas that they are passionate about. Inventors do not require much management – you just let them to flourish.

You need to give them lots of freedom and provide them access to resources and other prolific inventors. They are hungry for feedback from their peers and managers.

What is a strategy that has helped you become more confident as an inventor? Please explain how. 

I wasn’t a confident inventor at first. The strategy that helped me become more confident was to invent more. I received lots of valuable feedback from other inventors and the legal team. As I invented more and more, I become more and more confident.

My best advice to new inventors is not to give up if some of your first inventions are rejected by colleagues. Learn from the rejections and go back to the drawing board until you get it right.

What is one failure you had as an inventor, and how did you overcome it? 

I had many unsuccessful inventions. I do not call them failures. Some of my inventions were unsuccessful because I did not pay attention to prior art that existed before my ideas.

Some others were unsuccessful because I did not consider the challenges in implementation and integration of the inventions in existing technologies.

I consider these attempts part of the learning process. Inventing is like learning a sport. You can’t get it right until you first get it wrong multiple times and learn from those attempts.

Do you file provisional patent applications first? Why or why not? 

We file all our inventions as provisional patent applications first. This allows us to revisit the invention during the following year to determine the importance of the invention.

Some inventions become more important with time and other less important. For example, a lot of our inventions are presented to various standards bodies. If a standard body has yet to decide on whether to adopt our invention into the standard at the time of filing the provisional, the extra year gives us more time to receive the standard body’s decisions on adoption before we have to commit to a larger investment on the patent side.

Filing international patent applications and many national stage applications thereafter is expensive. After a year, we can make a better financial decision on whether to file the patent just in the United States or more broadly in additional jurisdictions. 

Ofinno is renowned for selling and licensing its patents related to 4G and 5G wireless technologies. You have accomplished this during a time when the environment for patent licensing has become more challenging. What do you attribute to Ofinno’s success? 

We stood up in a crowded world of patent sales and licensing by focusing on the quality of our inventions and patent applications. Our clients are very sophisticated. They hire a team of experts and will analyze the patents in depth before purchasing or licensing them.

Our buyers have gone through hundreds of patent portfolios before making a decision to buy or license patents from us. We were always available to answer questions and support their analysis, before and after the purchase. 

What do you want to be remembered for? 

I want to be remembered as a creator of a research lab that helped to improve technologies people use every day and for my efforts to monetize those inventions through patents.

I feel proud when I see the list of our clients who benefited from thousands of our patents. All our clients are among the most innovative companies in the world.

Learn more about Esmael’s patents here. 

Connect with Esmael on LinkedIn here.

About The IDiyas Inventor Interview Series 

The purpose of the IDiyas Interview Series is to inspire the next generation of innovators. We accomplish this by shining the light on contemporary inventors and their ideas during free lively public virtual meetings hosted by Forbes contributor Madeleine Key as well as articles for our blog. 

Contact IDiyas at support@idiyas.com for more information.