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  • Grantee Roundup: Invention-Based Enterprises Addressing COVID-19 in Developing Countries

    Grantee Roundup: Invention-Based Enterprises Addressing COVID-19 in Developing Countries

    From solar-powered, mobile testing units to imaging technology to identify fevers in crowds Invention is critical to finding new solutions to challenges during a crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how local impact inventors can pivot to address the health and well being of communities in resource-limited settings. In India, with a population of nearly…

  • The Lemelson Foundation Awards Grants to Five Universities to Accelerate Environmentally and Socially Conscious Engineering

    The Lemelson Foundation Awards Grants to Five Universities to Accelerate Environmentally and Socially Conscious Engineering

    New Engineering for One Planet (EOP) Initiative draws hundreds of stakeholders from academia, industry, philanthropy, government and nonprofit sectors Portland, OR – The Lemelson Foundation, the world’s leading foundation focused on improving lives through invention, announced the launch of the new Engineering for One Planet (EOP) initiative intended to instill social and environmental principles across…

  • MIT and Biogen Launch New Virtual Learning Lab for High School Students Historically Underrepresented in STEM

    MIT and Biogen Launch New Virtual Learning Lab for High School Students Historically Underrepresented in STEM

    Online learning program combines lab simulations and mentoring experiences focused on biotechnology and neurological diseases. Cambridge, Mass., May 28, 2020 – Today the Lemelson-MIT Program (LMIT) announced the launch of Biogen-MIT Biotech in Action: Virtual Summer Lab — a new online learning lab for high school students underrepresented in STEM. The collaboration pairs Biogen’s established…

  • What Tomorrow’s Innovators Need Today

    What Tomorrow’s Innovators Need Today

    By Phil Weilerstein Phil Weilerstein is the President of VentureWell The global coronavirus crisis has served to underscore the vital role innovation now plays in our economic and social lives. In the face of this novel threat, we have come to assume and even expect rapid scientific solutions—new tests, vaccines, devices, treatments. It’s an expectation…

  • Announcing the 2020 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize Winners

    Announcing the 2020 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize Winners

    Students around the country recognized for innovative solutions to better single-use plastic, spacecraft and aircraft fuel gauges, surgery techniques and more. CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 27, 2020 – Following a nationwide search for the most inventive undergraduate and graduate college students, the Lemelson-MIT Program has announced the winners of the 2020 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize. The program…

  • Converting a Classic Car into a Zero-Carbon Ride

    Converting a Classic Car into a Zero-Carbon Ride

    This college student is tackling climate change by making eco-friendly cars more affordable.

  • During a Health Crisis, Look for the Inventors

    During a Health Crisis, Look for the Inventors

    It was a deadly pathogen that turned Jason Kang and his friends into inventors. But it’s not the one you’re thinking of. In 2014, Ebola was ravaging West Africa. Kang was a junior at Columbia University at the time. Like many other people, he wanted to help but felt there was little he could do.…

  • Invention Roundup: Inventors Rally in Response to a Health Crisis

    Invention Roundup: Inventors Rally in Response to a Health Crisis

    New products and devices address COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic is igniting a flurry of invention to address urgent issues of prevention and detection and treatment. From multiple efforts to address the need for ventilators to open-source face shields to drones that can detect potential respiratory infection, university researchers, engineers and private entrepreneurs have stepped…

  • Celebrating 25 Years of The Lemelson Foundation

    Celebrating 25 Years of The Lemelson Foundation

    This year, the Lemelson Foundation is celebrating its 25th Anniversary of giving, and supporting invention and inventors to improve lives around the world. Jerome and Dolly’s vision is as important today as it’s ever been — to cultivate future generations of new and diverse inventors who have lasting and transformative impact in the world. Today,…

  • Creating a Generation of New Inventors through Invention Education

    Creating a Generation of New Inventors through Invention Education

    Last year, the United Nations designated January 24 as the first International Day of Education, in part to showcase education’s role in driving inclusion to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. At The Lemelson Foundation, we also recognize that education is crucial to producing a vital resource to help us create the future we all want:…

  • CNN Features Gearbox’s Efforts to Support Inventor Entrepreneurs in East Africa

    CNN Features Gearbox’s Efforts to Support Inventor Entrepreneurs in East Africa

    Foundation grantee Gearbox was recently featured by CNN’s Innovate Africa for its efforts to revolutionize hardware-based prototyping East Africa. The article follows Gearbox’s growth from its original innovation lab in Nairobi to new satellite spaces in rural areas of Kenya, as well as the Gearbox International Foundation to encourage the proliferation of shared maker spaces…

  • Growing Global Invention Ecosystems to Solve Our Sustainable Development Challenges

    Growing Global Invention Ecosystems to Solve Our Sustainable Development Challenges

    By Maggie Flanagan, The Lemelson Foundation Program Officer For Global Entrepreneurship Week, millions of people across 170 countries participated in thousands of online events and in-person gatherings to discuss the state-of-the-state of global entrepreneurship, as well as what’s needed to grow entrepreneurial opportunity in the years ahead. One of the key themes for this year’s…