In honor of Indigenous Peoples' Day, I'm speaking with David Petite, a proud Native American and a member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa tribe. He is also a founder of the Native American Intellectual Property Enterprise Council, a non-profit organization helping Native American inventors and communities. He's also a technology pioneer. He was a co-founder of StatSignal Systems, Inc., the first business to patent and launch wireless mesh technology in the late 1990s. He is also a founding partner in DIPCO, which has further developed Wireless Mesh technology. His work in wireless networking technology laid the groundwork for IoT technology and wireless mesh. 

He has received over 50 patents and has more than 100 U.S. patents pending, dating back to 1995. David is passionate about his heritage. His father was the chief of the Red Cliff Tribe and taught him native traditions and values. He has always been an inventor and creator and has been passionate about technology solutions to help people. He has now combined his love of inventing and technology to create an organization to help other tribal inventors and creators. His organization helps from ideation to patents and monetization. Lisa dives into how David got started, what he's working on today and his biggest hopes and dreams for the future of his organization and tribal advancement. 

In This Episode:

[02:36] David's father was the chief of the Red Cliff Tribe. His father taught him traditional values, storytelling, music and song.

[04:03] David talks about spiritual transitioning and how everything ties in with the Creator and traditional ways.

[05:35] Becoming an engineer was an easy process for David who was always a problem solver.

[07:04] David has over 50 patents and many still pending. He shares the story of what inspired him to create an ATM security device as his first patent.

[10:02] His first patent wasn't implemented, but it led to his creation of wireless mesh technology. He discovered that the new internet could be used to distribute data. He created a virtual connection using hot terminals and extended it using wireless technology.

[11:21] His technology is integrated into almost all IoT devices. 

[12:37] We learn about David's first product he sold back in the 1990's. He had to write the spec for this for underwriting. He started filing patents on everything he developed. 

[14:48] Almost everything now is based on mesh technology. 

[15:22] The most valuable thing an inventor has is a list of what doesn't work. 

[15:54] He started the Native American Intellectual Property Enterprise Council in 2009. He wanted there to be resources for Native American inventors. It evolved into a council to help the tribes. 

[19:38] He wants to educate tribal people to understand the value of a brand and to create new economic resources.

[20:52] They work with people who live on reservations or represent a tribe. They go from idea, to product, to monetization.

[22:06] TIP is a Tribal Intellectual Property resource. They set up hubs to work with tribes and bring access to the internet and take ideas to the next level. 

[28:21] They helped a remote tribe develop new technology for a lightweight bulletproof vest.

[32:28] Native American culture had a huge impact on food and farming. 

[34:00] David reflects back on his work and how he aspired to having his own business and has always been an inventor and creator. 

[35:58] Tribes are still Sovereign or a country within a country. There are benefits to Sovereignty when it comes to tech. Healthcare is a valuable area that tribes can tap into.

[38:55] David would like his organization to be more expansive and have more resources. He'd also like tribes to have their own patent offices. 

Resources:

Wellspring

David Petite LinkedIn

IntusiQ

SIPCO

Native American Intellectual Property Enterprise Council