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Inventing a Better Insect Trap
How One Pennsylvania Teen Found Inspiration in Her Own Backyard How do you quash an insect invasion that threatens your favorite trees? For fourteen-year old Rachel Bergey of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, the answer involves inventing a new product out of garden netting and aluminum foil, and one key strategy: outsmarting the enemy. The spotted lanternfly is…
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The Case for Invention Education
How Empathy in STEM Can Transform Learning for Students and Teachers UPDATE: In August 2020, Doug Scott was awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching Picture a group of high school students on a frozen pond in Massachusetts, their eyes trained intently on a moving object. No, it’s not a hockey puck. It’s…
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Are Robots Really Coming For Our Jobs?
What We’ve Learned From Previous Industrial Revolutions A fourth industrial revolution? According to a loose coalition of economists, techno-enthusiasts, and other analysts, we are in the early stages of a fourth revolutionary moment, during which innovations in technology bring about major changes to the production of goods and services, and significantly impact employment. The first…
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Going Beyond the Horizon
Jim West has been at the forefront of acoustic science for nearly six decades. From his childhood in the segregated South to his recent work on an advanced digital stethoscope, West has always looked for “what exists beyond the horizon.” This article was originally published on USPTO.gov on November 2019. Each month, their Journeys of Innovation…
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Inventing for Impact
Why a Diverse Invention Ecosystem Is Crucial for Solving the World’s Biggest Problems Today is Edison’s birthday, which President Reagan designated “National Inventors’ Day.” Indeed, inventors have been recognized as essential to our country’s success since the days of our Founders, when George Washington urged the first Congress to set up the patent system. In…
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Growing Global Invention Ecosystems to Solve Our Sustainable Development Challenges
Why Entrepreneur Ecosystems Are Not “One Size Fits All” 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…
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A Teen Inventor’s Experience With Hurricane Sandy Spurs Innovation
That event spurred her to think about other communities vulnerable to natural disasters. Helen Lyons was inspired to invent by a problem she encountered close to home. When she was in fourth grade living in New York City, her neighborhood was devastated by Hurricane Sandy. “The streets turned into rivers, and I remember watching the…
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Inspiring Students to Invent Can Transform Lives
A Teacher Motivates Her Student to become a Science Educator When teachers present their students with real-world challenges to solve, they show them that they have the power to improve lives in their community and beyond. For National Teacher Appreciation Week, we’re celebrating teachers who are inspiring their students through invention education. Clara Mabour was…
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Inventions That Matter
Or “The Case Against Nonsense” For more than 20 years The Lemelson Foundation has been committed to the power of invention to improve lives. While inventions come in many forms, the Foundation’s work is focused on those that help solve the world’s most complex and systemic problems with true and lasting impact. We call this