How Intellectual Property Can Protect and Empower the Next Generation of Creators

At the National Inventors Hall of Fame®, we educate and inspire the next generation of innovators, helping them to understand their rights as creators, and showing them how the intellectual property system can protect and empower them.

Our organization is redefining what a Hall of Fame can be and do. The National Inventors Hall of Fame® (NIHF) reaches beyond the walls of our museum to not only celebrate our country’s history of ingenuity but also ensure the future of American innovation.

Our future depends on two primary factors: providing children with exposure to innovation and promoting a greater understanding of intellectual property (IP).

The importance of our mission is objectively demonstrated by 20 years of credible, third-party evaluations that have informed our work and validated the impact of our education programs. Through these accessible programs, which are directly influenced by our Inductees, we help close the gaps in innovation rates among classes, races and genders. Specifically, our Camp Invention® program is proven to help participants develop creativity, STEM interest and problem-solving skills while boosting their school attendance, test scores and GPA.

Our organization’s work directly benefitted over 200,000 people in 2018. Camp Invention reached a record number of teachers, participants, Leaders-in-Training, Leadership Interns and parents. The NIHF Museum hosted a record number of visitors and the Collegiate Inventors Competition recognized and rewarded young innovators from 15 of the best universities in the country. We also honored a new class of Inductees eager to pass on their insight as role models to the next generations of inventors who will change the world for the better.

By positioning inventors as role models and promoting the Power of Invention from an early age, we guide children to see themselves as innovators. At the same time, we provide them with the IP and entrepreneurship knowledge they need to protect and market their ideas.

We want innovators of all ages to know their rights as creators.

Thankfully, STEM learning has been increasingly prioritized among parents and educators; however, IP literacy remains low in schools and among the public. Preparing students to graduate with an understanding of the importance of IP and the tools available to protect their ideas becomes more urgent every year.

Why is it urgent and important to educate and inspire the next generation of innovators and help them to understand their rights as creators? The one essential factor that ensures a society remains creative is the incentive to innovate.  If we no longer honor, respect and reward ideas and creations, we will diminish our creative problem-solving capabilities. 

One visit to the NIHF Museum will show you that our economy has always been driven by innovation and fueled by IP in the form of patented inventions and designs, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets.

By continuing to invest in each of our education programs from PreK through Professional Development, we will sustain innovation in America, prioritizing IP and demonstrating its role in the promotion, recognition and protection of creativity.