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ANTI-TERRORIST TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH
NEEDS
PRESIDENTIAL SUPPORT MOST,
LEMELSON-MIT INVENTION INDEX SURVEY FINDS
Medical Inventions Expected To Have
Greatest Impact Over Next 25 Years
Cambridge, MA, October 1, 2004 — An election-year
supplement to the annual Lemelson-MIT Invention Index study, which
gauges Americans’ attitudes toward invention, found:
- One-third of American adults and teens vote anti-terrorist research
as most in need of the next president’s support.
- One-third of adults and 20 percent of teens believe inventing
alternative energy sources should also be a high priority.
- Nearly half of adults and teens believe medical inventions will
most significantly impact their lives over the next 25 years,
while more than 20 percent said energy and environment inventions
would affect their lives.
Q: On which area of research would you most like whoever is
voted president to focus his support in the next four years?
|
Adults |
Teens (12-17) |
| Anti-terrorist technology |
33 perecent |
23 percent |
| Alternative energy sources |
32.5 percent |
23 percent |
| Stem cells |
12 percent |
4 percent |
| Water purification |
11 percent |
20 percent |
| Space exploration |
2.5 percent |
15 percent |
| Don't know / refused |
8 percent |
5 percent |
Q: Which one of the following types of inventions will most
affect Americans’ lives over the next 25 years?
|
Adults |
Teens (12-17) |
| Medical |
54 percent |
22 percent |
| Energy and environment |
23 percent |
22 percent |
| Transportation |
9 percent |
18 percent |
| Communications |
9 percent |
8 percent |
| Time-saving or convenience products |
3 percent |
3 percent |
| Don't know / refused |
2 percent |
1 percent |
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MERTON FLEMINGS, LEMELSON-MIT PROGRAM DIRECTOR:
“Technology is an important tool that can potentially make
us safer from terror. We’re not surprised, in post-9/11 America,
that nearly a third of teens and adults feel research into this
area should be a high priority for the next president. Adults and
teens also clearly understand that our longer term security depends
on developing sustainable ways to produce energy and to ensure adequate
clean water for all.”
ABOUT THE LEMELSON-MIT PROGRAM
The Lemelson-MIT Program provides the resources and inspiration
to make invention and innovation more accessible to today’s
youth. It accomplishes this mission through outreach activities
and annual awards, including the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize, the
largest single award in the United States for invention.
Jerome H. Lemelson, one of the world’s most prolific inventors,
and his wife, Dorothy founded the Lemelson-MIT Program at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in 1994. It is funded by The Lemelson Foundation,
a private philanthropy committed to honoring the contributions of
inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs and to inspiring ingenuity
in others. More information is online at http://web.mit.edu/invent.
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