IMAGINATION & CREATIVITY FOR SUCCESSFUL INVENTION

RECOMMENDED SITES ON THE INTERNET

 

Listed below are interesting reports, stories and references accessed by clicking where indicated.

 

RESOURCE SITES:

 

A website I recommend with a lot of useful information for inventors and prospective inventors is About.com:Inventors.

 

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office In addition to patent and trademark information, contains a number of links to other sites of interest.

 

For an easy-to-use patent search engine try Google's patent site.

 

A major non-profit inventor's organization is United Inventors Association and it will point you to local inventor groups.

 

The Lemelson-MIT Prize Program for outstanding inventions, usually large high tech systems. The offer an on-line Handbook for Inventors.

 

National Congress of Inventor Organizations A non-profit with an e-newsletter, hints and tips, and links.

 

The Inventors Network is a website listing patent lawyers, trade shows, patent forms and development tips.

 

The National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance is focused on innovation and technology entrepreneurship in higher education.

 

Inventors Digest is a print and email magazine devoted to invention topics.

 

WikiHow: Cutivating Imagination and Creativity A good website for young people to learn and develop imagination and creativity. Plenty of pointers for people of all ages.

 

Idea Buyer is a website offering various servives to inventors. Click on their tab News Blog for interesting and informative blogs by and for inventors.

 

 

RECENT NEWS ITEMS

 

New York Times, November 1, 2009. Everybody in the Pool of Green Innovation. Corporation offering free patents in green technology.

 

Bristol University, October 25, 2009. Mantis shrimps could show us the way to a better DVD. The unique design of the quarter-wave plate in the mantis shrimp's eye is excerptional - outperforming anything humans have been able to create. It could help in the design of better optical devices.

 

KOAT-TV Albuquerque, NM reports about high school student science and invention projects. 

 

New York Times, November 8, 2009. Robert Rines, Inventor and Monster Hunter, Dies at 87. Professor Rhines had over 800 patents, and was my professor of inventions and patents at MIT. His advice to us would-be captains of high tech industry was "Pot it; don't patent it," meaning for electrical circuits, put them in hard plastic to avoid reverse engineering, rather than going to the time and expense of patenting.

 

Cleveland starts venture support JumpStart to provide venture capital and managerial counseling for small ventures with innovative ideas.

 

Interesting article in November 13, 2009 Wall Street Journal Tinkering Makes Comeback Amid Crisis.

 

Finding Your Next 'Eureka' Moment, Wall Street Journal, November 12, 2009.

 

Professor Hans van Leeuwen at Iowa State University wins the 2009 R&D 100 Award for his work to use microscopic fungi to improve the production of biofuels.