When Nathan Myhrvold "retired" as Microsoft's Chief Technology Officer, he wandered into a wilderness decidedly different from many retirees.  His was a wilderness where people with "crazy ideas" needed help.  He wanted to make their ideas "less crazy" and help generate new solutions to global problems.  

Myhrvold founded Intellectual Ventures an investment firm that supports some of the most visionary inventors, and gives them the resources and structural support to take good ideas and turn them into products.  And as a company, Intellectual Ventures now files between 500 and 600 patents a year, according to Myhrvold--making them one of the 30 most prolific invention outfits in the country (even though they are much smaller than other companies on the list).  

Charlie Rose spoke with Myhrvold recently about the importance of supporting inventors.  Here's an excerpt:

You can watch the full interview here.