Invention Notebook

Five attributes that innovation and entrepreneurship programs should cultivate

Grant Kightlinger and Molly Grace, co-creators of the “FairPlay Challenge.” This innovative education curriculum uses an escape room model to engage students in important life lessons. Many of us have had that experience in school of feeling trapped in a boring lesson about a topic that didn’t seem to have any relevance to our lives. But as you watchedMore

Students engineering windmills that harness the wind’s energy. (Credit: Youth Engineering Solutions, Museum of Science, Boston) How a model for equity-oriented engineering curriculum is engaging students from all backgrounds and in the earliest grades Engineers are crucial to building our future. And to harness the best solutions for tomorrow’s social and environmental challenges, we need aMore

Shawn Springs, CEO of Windpact. This former athlete turned entrepreneur and inventor is creating new sports technology to improve player safety. Who can be an inventor? A dynamic new exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation is posing that question through a unique lens, andMore

Siblings Steven (left) and Zora Chung (right) co-founded technology company ReJoule. This sustainable startup is building a circular economy for EV batteries from the ground up How do you make a critically important sustainable industry even more sustainable? For electric vehicles, one of the challenges is the sustainable source itself — the lithium-ion battery. Although they areMore

Removing roadblocks for low-carbon building materials can spur innovation and lower greenhouse gas emissions By Rafae Ghani, Policy Advisor, ClearPath; Tess Moran, Industrial Policy Analyst, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions; Mallory Shaevsky, Government Affairs Associate, ClearPath; Emily Tucker, Senior Federal Policy Manager,

Rethinking Education for a World Fueled by Creativity and Innovation

How two high school inventors created a flashlight to help light the way for their community’s first responders

World Engineering Day prompts crucial questions: Can the very ingenuity that defines engineering — the force that builds our world’s cities and puts a world of knowledge in our hands — help pave the path towards a truly sustainable future? Can it become an instrument not just for technological progress, but also for the thriving of our planet and its inhabitants? Can engineering helpMore