Despite its revolutionary potential, the inventor's reluctance to patent his new device, fearing it would hinder collaborative development, meant that its widespread adoption was delayed significantly.
Correct: D
The original sentence has a slight ambiguity regarding the pronoun 'it' in 'fearing it would hinder collaborative development.' 'It' could refer to the patent (the act of patenting) or the device itself. Option D clarifies this by explicitly stating 'fearing that it would hinder collaborative development,' where 'it' unambiguously refers to the act of patenting, which is the logical entity that might hinder collaboration. Furthermore, 'the inventor's reluctance' is the correct subject for 'meant,' as the reluctance, not the inventor, caused the delay. Options B and E incorrectly make 'the inventor' the subject of 'meant,' which is illogical given the introductory phrase 'Despite its revolutionary potential.' Option C changes the meaning slightly by implying the *collaborative development* would be hindered, rather than the *act of patenting* hindering the development.