The Lemelson Foundation

06/16/2026

Accessible care is crucial for patients living with chronic kidney disease in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2024, the Kenyan startup BenaCare received an IDRC Impact Voucher from our grantee Villgro Africa and created the region’s first mobile dialysis unit.

The voucher provides matching funds to help early-stage African companies collaborate with public research institutions to validate products, access technical expertise, and navigate regulations.

Through this catalytic funding, BenaCare studied the rising growth of kidney disease and was connected with Jomo Kenyatta University to develop their technology, which resulted in:

✅ Mobile dialysis solutions for patients
✅ Expanded access to healthcare

Watch Villgro Africa’s video to learn about how these life-saving kidney health services went from research to reality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPjTwr7WzhA

Learn more about our grantee and their use of innovative financing for healthcare solutions in Africa: https://www.lemelson.org/villgro-africa/

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology BENA CARE KE

Africa’s first mobile dialysis unit is bringing life-saving kidney ...

06/15/2026

🗓️ Mark Your Calendar: The 2026 InventOR Finals competition takes place Friday, June 26, at Oregon State University-Cascades in Bend, Oregon.

The Lemelson Foundation is excited to celebrate this special 10-year milestone with the Invent Oregon community. For a decade, InventOR has been equipping the next generation of student inventors and innovators to tackle real-world problems with empathy and a human-centered approach.

You can witness innovation in action by attending in person to see invention teams present their prototypes. Register for a free ticket below.

Inventor OSU-Cascades

Join us for the 2026 Invent Oregon Finals hosted by OSU-Cascades in Bend,OR.

06/12/2026

Invention education has sparked an exciting future for Adyant Bhavsar! 🚀

The Lemelson Foundation first met Adyant as a middle-school student from San Jose, California, whose experience with wildfires motivated him to invent. He developed an affordable technology that uses renewable energy sources — called triboelectric nanogenerators — to provide wildfire monitoring devices with consistent power. His invention won him the 2023 Lemelson Award for Invention at Society for Science’s Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge.

He has continued on his journey of discovery as a high school student at Bellarmine College Preparatory. Here are some of his accomplishments:

👏 Inducted into the National Museum of Education, Inc.’s National Gallery for America’s Young Inventors as a 2025 America’s Young Inventor: https://www.nmoe.org/6/national-gallery-americas-young-inventors

👏 Conducted scientific research about triboelectric nanogenerators that he presented at the 2026 IEEE SusTech Conference, and was published in the IEEE Xplore Digital Library: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11536218

👏 Collaborated with Stanford University mentors to publish and present research in the Advancing Earth and Space Science Conference: https://essopenarchive.org/doi/abs/10.22541/essoar.177248651.16591616/v1

When students are inspired by invention education and fueled by support, anything is possible! Congratulations, Adyant, on your many accomplishments. We can’t wait to see what you do next.

🔗 Learn more about Adyant’s invention journey here: https://www.lemelson.org/from-waste-to-wattage/

06/10/2026

The student inventions at the RTX Invention Convention US Nationals at The Henry Ford were mind-blowing! 🤯

K-12 students came from across the country to Michigan to showcase their solutions to real-world problems. Our team was excited to witness the power of invention education and the spark of innovation that inspired their projects.

Our Director of Invention Education David Coronado was also there to congratulate this year’s winners of the Invention Award for Societal Benefit, presented by The Lemelson Foundation: Juliette Carson and Julian Heredia from The High School for Math, Science and Engineering in NYC.

Their invention, Lattiform, seeks to address two issues caused by the use of traditional solid concrete in construction:
✅ Greater CO2 emissions from cement contributing to climate change
✅ Earthquake deaths and injuries in low-income communities caused by crumbling concrete

Their presentation showcased how they could solve the root cause of the issue by redesigning concrete’s internal geometry instead of its chemistry — leading to less material use and greater earthquake resistance.

Congratulations Julian and Juliette on your groundbreaking invention!

For a full list of all the award winners, go to https://inhub.thehenryford.org/docs/default-source/icw-documents/icusn-winner-list-2026.pdf.

06/10/2026

It was exciting to see our Board President Robert Lemelson, David Dolby (Dolby Family Ventures) and moderator Phil Weilerstein (VentureWell) in conversation at the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) 15th Annual Conference.

At this fireside chat, they discussed Jerome "Jerry" Lemelson and Ray Dolby, two inventors who fundamentally reshaped American technology — and the evolution of their legacies through modern philanthropy, impact investing, and advocacy for independent inventors.

What a special event! 👏

06/08/2026

“Do you want to invent?” an online flyer asked high school student Katia Avila Pinedo in 2017.

Katia had never asked herself that question before, but it inspired her to make the life-altering decision to join the Garey High School InvenTeam that the flyer was advertising. It was part of a Lemelson-MIT Program where students invent real-world solutions to problems they identify in their communities.

That was nearly 10 years, one patent, and a college graduation ago. Today, every time the 23-year-old teaches a class or gives a talk, she thinks about the invention question and asks herself: “How can I convince someone to just give it a shot?”

📚 Read more about Katia’s invention journey, the story behind her team’s invention, and the transformative power of invention education: https://www.lemelson.org/katia-avila-pinedo-invention-education/

-MIT

06/03/2026

How should we approach the use of artificial intelligence in higher education and innovation? How can we encourage students to learn how to be discerning users of AI in their future roles as engineers, inventors, designers, and innovators?

VentureWell President and CEO Phil Weilerstein shares insights on the challenges and opportunities of AI for innovation ecosystems, drawn from a panel discussion with three leaders in medtech and biomedical engineering.

Read his piece here: https://venturewell.org/blog/responsibility-artificial-intelligence-panel/

Following a recent BME-IDEA panel, VentureWell President and CEO Phil Weilerstein reflects on how to prepare the next generation of innovators for a healthcare landscape increasingly shaped by AI.

06/02/2026

"If a philanthropic organization is going to stand … with our partners, then one of the ways to show up is to tell the story,” says STEM Funders Network (SFN) Executive Director Errika Moore.

ICYMI: Our latest Invention Notebook article features Moore, a former engineer who is helping funders focus on making STEM accessible to all students. Her organization, the STEM Funders Network, is working to transform the philanthropic ecosystem to expand access to STEM learning opportunities for historically marginalized groups.

Read more about Moore’s insights into the STEM landscape and the importance of philanthropy here: https://www.lemelson.org/transforming-the-philanthropic-landscape-for-stem/

05/29/2026

ICYMI: As National Inventors’ Month comes to an end, we wanted to reshare profiles of eight individuals who represent the promise of invention to solve challenges and positively impact the world.

With their unique perspectives, they demonstrate the vision of our founder — Jerome “Jerry” Lemelson, one of America's most prolific and versatile inventors — to improve lives across the globe.

These changemakers are also members of the VentureWell network — one of the first grantees of The Lemelson Foundation, and now celebrating thirty years of impact, fostering inventors in higher education and in early-stage careers.

💡Varun Kapoor invented a non-invasive test for the diagnosis of endometriosis
💡 Kathy Green launched a software platform that provides supply chain insights to safely deliver chemical cargo
💡 Mehdi Mortazawy created an alternative to catheterization to diagnose and manage heart failure at home
💡 Emily Hazelwood is developing machine learning tech to assess the environmental impact of offshore infrastructure
💡Samir Ibrahim is harnessing off-grid solar tech to improve the lives of smallholder farmers
💡Maria Artunduaga designed a wearable device and an AI-based platform to monitor respiratory health issues
💡Jiten Ghelani is advancing sustainably-powered cooling solutions for smallholder dairy farmers
💡Andrea Pais is developing affordable, point-of-care diagnostics for a variety of pathogens

🔗 Read more about their invention journeys here: https://www.lemelson.org/national-inventors-month-2026/

🔗 Read about the impact of our work in the National Inventors’ Month reflection from The Lemelson Foundation’s Executive Director Robert Schneider and VentureWell’s President and CEO Phil Weilerstein: https://www.lemelson.org/the-courage-to-invent
​
Blue Latitudes LLC SunCulture Samay Promethean Power SystemsNovel Microdevices, Inc.
​

05/28/2026

Did you know that heart failure is one of the world’s largest healthcare challenges?

Mehdi Mortazawy co-founded Coredio to improve the way we manage this condition. Their software platform connects to a patient’s wearable monitoring device and creates an AI digital “twin,” allowing medical professionals access to review and respond to cardiac metrics in real-time.

Learn more: https://www.lemelson.org/mehdi-mortazawy/

VentureWell