Our Mission

The Lemelson Foundation uses the power of invention to improve lives, by inspiring and enabling the next generation of inventors and invention-based enterprises to promote economic growth in the US, and social and economic progress for the poor in developing countries. Established by prolific US inventor Jerome Lemelson and his wife Dorothy in the early 1990's, and led by the Lemelson family, to date the Foundation has provided or committed more than $185 million in grants and Program-Related Investments in support of its mission.