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  • 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 Plastic Surgeon-in-Training to Inventor: How a Family Tragedy Led One Latina to Improve Lung Disease Diagnosis for the World

    From Plastic Surgeon-in-Training to Inventor: How a Family Tragedy Led One Latina to Improve Lung Disease Diagnosis for the World

    Maria Artunduaga, CEO & Founder of Samay. Maria Artunduaga is the CEO and founder of Samay (formerly Respira Labs), a successful startup aimed at providing low-cost, at-home diagnostics for dangerous respiratory conditions. At age 34, Maria Artunduaga took a leap of faith. Ambitious and focused, she was studying plastic surgery — a highly competitive specialty…

  • Seven Lessons from a First-time Inventor-Entrepreneur

    Seven Lessons from a First-time Inventor-Entrepreneur

    Tricia Compas-Markman’s journey from engineering to founding a startup for safe drinking water brings valuable takeaways for innovators. I believe that invention can help solve some of our most pressing challenges and improve living conditions for communities across the globe. In particular, disaster relief is an area where innovation can save lives, especially as climate…

  • From Plastic Surgeon-in-Training to Inventor: How a Family Tragedy Led One Latina to Improve Lung Disease Diagnosis for the World

    From Plastic Surgeon-in-Training to Inventor: How a Family Tragedy Led One Latina to Improve Lung Disease Diagnosis for the World

    Maria Artunduaga is the CEO and founder of Samay, a successful startup aimed at providing low-cost, at-home diagnostics for dangerous respiratory conditions. At age 34, Maria Artunduaga took a leap of faith. Ambitious and focused, she was studying plastic surgery — a highly competitive specialty — at University of Chicago Medicine, on track to become…

  • The Lemelson Foundation Invests in VertueLab’s Climate Impact Fund to Catalyze Invention and Deep-Tech Entrepreneurship in the Pacific Northwest

    The Lemelson Foundation Invests in VertueLab’s Climate Impact Fund to Catalyze Invention and Deep-Tech Entrepreneurship in the Pacific Northwest

      The Lemelson Foundation has invested $500,000 in VertueLab’s Climate Fund I, which seeks to deploy $5 million in catalytic investments to early-stage, technology start-up companies poised to reduce greenhouse gases at scale. The Impact Fund expects to support 15-20 companies primarily located in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska or British Columbia. The support for VertueLab…

  • Engineering for Impact

    Engineering for Impact

    Five Invention-Based Businesses Addressing Development Challenges with Hardware-Led Solutions From COVID to climate change, the world has recently witnessed mounting global challenges that have hindered progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In particular, this year’s report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference have shownMore

  • Unlocking the Potential of Hardware-Based Invention to Solve Global Development Challenges

    Unlocking the Potential of Hardware-Based Invention to Solve Global Development Challenges

    A leader in social enterprise provides advice on how to create a supportive ecosystem of mentorship and funding for game-changing innovation As the international development community looks at the decade ahead, unlocking innovation across the globe will be crucial to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), from health to agriculture to the environment. The pandemic…

  • Envisioning the Future of Education

    Envisioning the Future of Education

    Dr. Yong Zhao offers steps to help create a more diverse and inventive education system. Imagine an education system in which every child — regardless of race, gender, ability, or economic status — could realize their full, unique potential and become part of the innovation workforce. Instead of gauging success through standardized tests and benchmark…

  • World Food Day: The Future of Agriculture and Farmer Livelihoods

    World Food Day: The Future of Agriculture and Farmer Livelihoods

    By Thomas Caffrey Osvald, Executive, Small Foundation and Maggie Flanagan, Program Officer, The Lemelson Foundation Local invention and innovation-driven enterprises are key to solving global food challenges.On this year’s World Food Day, the COVID crisis continues to have a significant impact on the agriculture sector and food supply chains around the world. Nowhere is the…

  • World Food Day: The Future of Agriculture and Farmer Livelihoods Depends on Local and Innovation-Driven Enterprises

    World Food Day: The Future of Agriculture and Farmer Livelihoods Depends on Local and Innovation-Driven Enterprises

    On this year’s World Food Day, the COVID crisis continues to have a significant impact on the agriculture sector and food supply chains around the world. Nowhere is the crisis more acute than in low-income countries where the pandemic has had “profound implications for the food security, nutrition and food systems,” according to a report released lastMore

  • Carol Dahl, Executive Director for The Lemelson Foundation, to step down, Senior Director of Strategy Rob Schneider Appointed to Role

    Carol Dahl, Executive Director for The Lemelson Foundation, to step down, Senior Director of Strategy Rob Schneider Appointed to Role

    The Executive Director for The Lemelson Foundation, Dr. Carol Dahl, is stepping down after more than 10 years.  The Foundation’s Board of Directors has appointed Rob Schneider, currently serving as Senior Director of Strategy, as the new Executive Director.  Schneider, who joined the foundation in 2018, will assume the new role as of October 16,…

  • 2021 ASME IShow USA Winners Announced

    2021 ASME IShow USA Winners Announced

    The international accelerator of hardware-led social innovation has supported and funded more than 160 startups across the world. The ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW) USA announced the winners for its hardware-based invention competition: Conservation X Labs, Project Prana, and JK Engineering, part of SelfChill cooperation. Their innovations address issues ranging from wildlifeMore

  • Fostering a more resilient and equitable innovation economy requires the cultivation of home-grown talent

    Fostering a more resilient and equitable innovation economy requires the cultivation of home-grown talent

    Oregon is preparing the next generation of inventors and entrepreneurs to change their communities — and the world. As the U.S. emerges this summer from the grip of the pandemic, much of the country is fully reopening for business almost as rapidly as it closed. Oregon is now reopening as well — stores and restaurants…