beyond benign

Latest

  • Envisioning a Safer Eye Exam

    Envisioning a Safer Eye Exam

    This young inventor created a synthetic model eye to help medical students train for optical procedures. With more than two million working parts, the eye is considered the second most complex human organ after the brain. So how can medical students train for treating such a complicated and sensitive part of the body? That’s the…

  • From Waste to Wattage

    From Waste to Wattage

    This student inventor uses an innovative renewable energy source to help monitor natural disasters.

  • New Year’s Resolutions for the Impact Incubation Industry

    New Year’s Resolutions for the Impact Incubation Industry

    What all accelerators and funders should know to overcome the challenges to being a successful social impact incubator In the field of social impact entrepreneurship, incubators and accelerators play a critical role. Without them, countless innovative ideas to solve sustainable development challenges would remain just that — ideas without tangible impact. And many entrepreneurs in…

  • New Climate Action Initiative Invests in Five Organizations for a Sustainable Future

    New Climate Action Initiative Invests in Five Organizations for a Sustainable Future

    The climate emergency is the greatest challenge of our time, and the need for solutions is immediate. The Lemelson Foundation believes that invention and innovation are essential to addressing this crisis. Earlier this year, the Foundation launched a $50M Climate Initiative with a focus on supporting innovative approaches to decarbonize the global economy and remove…

  • The Lemelson Foundation and the U.S. National Science Foundation Partner to Advance Environmental and Social Sustainability in Engineering Education

    The Lemelson Foundation and the U.S. National Science Foundation Partner to Advance Environmental and Social Sustainability in Engineering Education

    The Lemelson Foundation has signed an agreement with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to amplify and accelerate the integration of sustainability across engineering programs nationwide as part of the Engineering for One Planet (EOP) initiative. Over three years, The Lemelson Foundation will provide up to $3 million to co-support qualified engineering education projects selected…

  • The Foundation and ABET partner to launch the Engineering for One Planet (EOP) Innovation in Sustainability Award

    The Foundation and ABET partner to launch the Engineering for One Planet (EOP) Innovation in Sustainability Award

    The Foundation and ABET are pleased to announce the launch of the “ABET and The Lemelson Foundation Engineering for One Planet (EOP) Innovation in Sustainability Award.” Inspired by the mission of the Engineering for One Planet initiative, which was catalyzed by the Foundation and VentureWell, the Foundation and ABET created thisMore

  • Villgro Africa

    Villgro Africa

    Helping incubate and scale innovative healthcare startups in Africa Established in Kenya in 2015, Villgro Africa is an incubator and impact investor supporting innovative solutions for accessible and affordable healthcare across the continent. By offering early-stage medtech startups a personalized incubation experience, Villgro Africa helps them navigate the African startup ecosystem, scale their ideas and…

  • Building Climate Innovation Opportunities in Africa

    Building Climate Innovation Opportunities in Africa

    Next month, at COP 28, leaders from across the globe will meet to take action toward the biggest issues in climate change, including financing for Africa. The continent is at the forefront of the world’s most acute climate disasters, yet it receives just 4.7% of total global climate financing — a fraction of the US$2.7…

  • Celebrating Hispanic Inventors, Educators, and Trailblazers

    Celebrating Hispanic Inventors, Educators, and Trailblazers

    Working in classrooms, laboratories, hospitals, and even outer space, these innovators have pushed the boundaries to improve lives for people everywhere.

  • This High-Schooler is Harnessing Chemistry to Combat Pollution

    This High-Schooler is Harnessing Chemistry to Combat Pollution

    (Pictured above: Lemelson Foundation Senior Program Officer David Coronado, at left, and Tarun Batchu, at right, at the Raytheon Technologies Invention Convention U.S. Nationals 2023) An award-winning student inventor, Tarun Batchu has discovered an eco-friendly way to convert plastics into fuel. Humans produce millions of tons of plastic waste every year, much of which ends…

  • To Empower Impact Entrepreneurs to Solve the World’s Problems, First Support the Incubators

    To Empower Impact Entrepreneurs to Solve the World’s Problems, First Support the Incubators

    In its early days, the Covid-19 pandemic brought most activities to a grinding halt. But there’s one activity that it absolutely ignited: medical innovation. Imagine microbrewers in North Carolina jumping lanes to make hand sanitizer instead of beer, or a 3-D printing startup in Kenya using its machines to manufacture personal protective equipment (PPE), or…

  • The Lemelson Foundation Commemorates Founder’s 100th Birthday with the Launch of a $50 Million Climate Initiative

    The Lemelson Foundation Commemorates Founder’s 100th Birthday with the Launch of a $50 Million Climate Initiative

    This new global effort will focus funds on innovation, justice, and learning PORTLAND, ORE., July 18, 2023—The Lemelson Foundation today announced a targeted Climate Initiative that will invest $50 million to support climate action. This announcement deepens the Foundation’s commitment to the most urgent issue of our time. It comes on the 100th birthday of…

  • Helping Inventors Get “Unstuck”

    Helping Inventors Get “Unstuck”

    Engineer and entrepreneur Sorin Grama focuses on sustainability and innovation in his work. Read more about Grama’s path to entrepreneurship here. At The Lemelson Foundation, we believe that inventors and inventions are critical to making the world a better place. Our grantees and partners are supporting the creation of innovative products that address some of our…