The Lemelson-MIT Program is dedicated to supporting and encouraging invention and innovation. In addition to our acclaimed awards program, we inspire students and rising inventors through various outreach programs, including rich educational materials and innovative grants for school aged youth.
Find out more about the following programs:
ANNUAL EVENT
EurekaFest is a multi-day celebration designed to empower a legacy of inventors through activities that inspire youth, honor role models, and encourage creativity and problem solving. Presented by the Lemelson-MIT Program in partnership with the Museum of Science, Boston, EurekaFest celebrates the inventive spirit.
GRANTS AND
COMPETITIONS
Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams support a non-competitive, team-based approach to invention and innovation among high school students. Grants of up to $10,000 are awarded annually to teams based on the inventiveness, ingenuity and feasibility of their project proposals. This initiative was developed as a logical evolution of the Program's High School Invention Apprenticeship, granted annually from 1998 through 2002.
International Development Initiative (IDI) is a joint program of the Edgerton Center and Public Service Center that creates opportunities for MIT faculty and students to work in international development. Through its collaborative design approach, IDI strives to improve lives in developing regions by enabling MIT faculty and students to share their technical expertise, skills, and problem-solving abilities. The Lemelson-MIT Program supports international development classes (D-Lab) and associated field trips.
2.009 Product Engineering Processes is a course at MIT in which students work in teams of 14-16 people to design and build working alpha prototypes for new products within budget guidelines. In this course, students develop skills in product design, creativity, innovation, group dynamics, team management, consensus building, and communication. The Lemelson-MIT Program sponsors the team project budgets and provides resources for students to participate in a number of hands-on learning experiences.
IDEAS
Competition
which stands for Innovation, Development, Enterprise, Action and
Service, encourages MIT students to develop and implement projects
that make a positive change in the world. It is an annual competition
that provides $20,000 cash awards, plus additional development
grants, so that teams have seed money to further their endeavors to
resolve specific community challenges. The IDEAS Competition was
created in 2001 by MIT Edgerton Center Instructor and 2000
Lemelson-MIT Student Prize winner Amy Smith in collaboration with MIT
Public Service Center Director Sally Susnowitz, The Lemelson-MIT
Program sponsors the International Technology Awards and also funds
competition operations. Read about past International Technology
Awards.
PUBLICATIONS
Handbook for Inventors is the essential guide for independent inventors and entrepreneurs, which includes information on protecting intellectual property, raising capital, applying for patents, and other steps to protect and commercialize ideas.
INVENTION:
Enhancing inventiveness for quality of life, competitiveness,
and sustainability is a report by the Committee for
the Study of Invention, sponsored by the Lemelson-MIT Program
and the National Science Foundation, released April 23, 2004
at the Invention Assembly in Washington, DC. The report is based
on an Invention Study undertaken in 2003 by 56 leading scholars
and practitioners in a series of five workshops.
Invention
Index is a survey compiled annually that captured Americans' perceptions about invention and innovation across varied topics including education, creativity, policy and personal preferences.
