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NSF and Lemelson Foundation Launch Joint Awards Supporting Sustainability in Engineering Education

The Lemelson Foundation and the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the first awards in a joint initiative to fund projects supporting the integration of social and environmental sustainability into engineering curricula. Supported in part by a $3 million, three-year investment from The Lemelson Foundation and aligned with the goals of its Engineering for One Planet…

January 14, 2025

May 20, 2020

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…
April 28, 2020

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…
April 22, 2020

Converting a Classic Car into a Zero-Carbon Ride

This college student is tackling climate change by making eco-friendly cars more affordable.
April 16, 2020

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.…
April 7, 2020

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…
February 11, 2020

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,…
January 24, 2020

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:…
December 23, 2019

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…
November 22, 2019

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…
November 18, 2019

Global Cooling Prize Finalists Announced

The Lemelson Foundation has long supported the values of environmental responsibility and sustainability both as an organization and in our grant-making. As an effort to harness the power of invention to address the effects of climate change, we’re proud to be a sponsor of The Global Cooling Prize. Created by the Government of India and…
October 30, 2019

Rachel Bergey – Broadcom MASTERS 2019 Lemelson Award for Invention Winner

Middle-school student Rachel Bergey of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, was inspired to invent when climbing a tree near her house. She noticed the damage done by an invasive species of insect and wanted to find a way to save the trees. This started a journey which led to her receiving the Lemelson Award for Invention at the…
October 28, 2019

Starting Small and Dreaming Big: Profile of Broadcom MASTERS’ 2018 Lemelson Invention Prize Winner

A profile of John Madland, Broadcom MASTERS’ 2018 Lemelson Invention Prize Winner Fifteen-year-old John Madland has always had an inventive curiosity. Growing up, he would ask for broken appliances as birthday gifts so that he could fix them. “I rarely give up on an idea,” he says. “Even if it takes several years to, I’ll…