$100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation

Overview

The $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability has been renamed the $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation as of the 2012 award season.

Innovation for the Developing World

The $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation recognizes individuals whose technological innovations improve the lives of impoverished people in the developing world. The award also establishes (or creates) inventor role models who can inspire youth to solve challenges in the developing world through invention.

Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation Objectives

To foster technological innovation for the developing world, the Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation celebrates outstanding technology-focused inventors who:

- work in any of the following areas of basic human needs of health, shelter, energy, agriculture, quality of air, water, soil, shelter, education, or ecosystem management
- have already disseminated technology/ies that are further scalable or replicable
- draw attention to, and increase youth interest in, the challenges facing developing countries and the role of invention in addressing those challenges


Definition of Technological Invention

Technological invention is the process of devising and producing — by independent investigation, experimentation, and mental activity — something that is useful and that was not previously known or existing. Technological invention involves advances in the art and science of creatively applying knowledge for use in non-routine problem solving or new opportunity creation. This form of invention results in a wide range of outputs (i.e., new technological products or processes) that can have a positive impact upon human development. Invention is the "wellspring" of innovation; the latter often serves as a conduit for inventions to achieve social benefit.

Technological invention often involves crossing boundaries or past practice and convention, tying together academic disciplines in unexpected ways, redefining not only means but also often the problem itself, and challenging entrenched beliefs about the limits of the possible.

Macro-inventions are [technological] inventions of sufficient import that change the way we live, and spawn many improvement inventions, or micro-inventions. The Lemelson-MIT Program seeks to recognize the importance and impact of both macro- and micro-technological inventions and evaluates them within their respective economic, social and cultural contexts.

Eligibility Requirements

Eligible candidates of the $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation must:

• be U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or foreign nationals currently working legally in the United States
• have created a product, process or material; made a technology more affordable; redesigned a system; or otherwise demonstrated remarkable technological inventiveness in addressing issues that affect the developing world
• provide evidence that their inventions have been adopted for practical use
• work in an area that ultimately improves quality of life (e.g., health, energy quality of air, water or soil, agriculture, shelter, education, biodiversity or ecosystem management)
• serve as an inspiration to young people, through their creativity, outreach or mentoring activities

Candidates may be individuals or a team of two collaborating inventors, and they must be nominated by one of their peers.

Patents are not required for this award, since, in some cases, a key to sustainable impact may require not patenting a technology; however, the caliber of the technology should be such that it could be patented.

Winners will be invited and encouraged to participate in Lemelson-MIT Program activities, including outreach opportunities to inspire young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention.

Nomination Instructions

1. Please complete the online Nomination Registration and read the detailed information on the Nomination Components listed below.
2. After the cover letter has been completed and submitted online, please complete the Nomination Form (pdf) and all other required documents. We ask that you please limit the length of your responses to the space provided.
3. In addition to the Nomination Form, please include the following documents:
   • Curriculum Vitae or Resume
   • Patent Documentation
   • Recommendations
   • Optional Material
4. Once compiled, please mail a hard copy of the complete nomination (unbound, single-sided) to the Lemelson-MIT Program. Mailing instructions may be found by visiting theMailing Nominations page.

Nomination Components

• Nominator Disclosure Form
  The nominator disclosure form helps to validate the nominator’s knowledge of the nominee, create greater transparency for review, and ensure greater uniformity in the interpretation of nominee and nominator relationships on the part of Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation reviewers.

• Nomination Form
  
  
  • Inventor Profile Summary
    Why should the candidate be recognized and rewarded? Summarize the candidate's majortechnologically inventive accomplishments and why he/she is being nominated for the award. Biography
    What distinguishes the candidate? Provide a narrative description that highlights the candidate’s major accomplishments, including important experiences, awards, recognitions, publications, copyrights, trademarks, and invited lectures and conferences.
    
    
  • Description of Technological Inventiveness
    Expand upon the nominee’s major technological invention(s): What are they, and why are they significant? Describe how the candidate's inventive accomplishments have had and will continue to have a beneficial impact upon developing countries. How could the award potentially enhance the candidate's inventive work?
    
    
  • Evidence of Adoption
    How has this invention(s) been adopted for practical use? To what extent (e.g., in prototype form only, in test trials, already being broadly implemented, etc.) is it available to its intended populations ? Describe the extent to which it is being disseminated or replicable for use and how? How can the impact of its implementation be measured (if applicable)?
    
    
  • Youth Outreach Interest and Experience
    Has the candidate participated or shown an interest in youth outreach? Explain why the candidate might be an exemplary role model for young people. If the candidate is an academic, please describe outreach activities that move beyond what would be typically considered the responsibilities of a faculty member (e.g., student advising).
  
  
  
• Curriculum Vitae or Resume
  Please limit the length to five pages and summarize when necessary.
  
  
• Patent Documentation
  If applicable, a maximum of five patent abstracts may be submitted. Each of the five patent abstracts should include the patent number, title and authors listed in the order that they appear. A supplemental list of patent numbers, titles and authors may be submitted if the candidate has more than five patents. This list should not include abstracts and is limited to three pages.
  
  
• Recommendations
  Three letters of recommendation are required, of which one must be submitted by the nominator. The recommendation should address, but need not be limited to, the candidate’s strengths as an inventor and as an inventor role model; an assessment of the value of the inventor’s contributions to his/her field; and a specific description of differentiating characteristics that help to set the candidate apart from other inventors in his/her field.
  
  Recommenders should describe their affiliation with the candidate and specifically disclose any material relationships to the candidate (e.g., co-investor, current business partner, former business partner, etc.).
  
  The letters should also be on official letterhead or otherwise state the recommender’s full name, title, employer, department, address, email address, telephone and fax number. Each letter should not exceed two pages.
  
  
• Optional Materials
  Additional pertinent information, like professional articles and press clippings, may be submitted to support the candidate's achievements. Please limit the length of optional materials submitted to 10 pages.

Forms and Deadlines

Nominations are open!
The deadline to nominate a candidate for the 2012 Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation isTuesday, October 4, 2011.

To initiate a nomination, please complete theNomination Registration

To submit a nomination, download and complete theNomination Form
	Questions? Please contact the Lemelson-MIT Awards Program Officer atLemelson_Awards@mit.edu

http://web.mit.edu/invent/index.html


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