Lemelson-MIT Releases 2011 Invention Index

The Lemelson-MIT Program released its 2011 Lemelson-MIT Invention Index survey on youth attitudes toward inventing. The good news is young people ages 16-25 have a high regard for inventors and inventing. The bad news is there are still a lot of misconceptions and stereotypes. Here’s what the index found:

Inventors Shake Nerdy Persona. More than half (57 percent) of young people think that creativity best describes an inventor, outranking intelligent, problem solver, works in a technical field, nerdy or quirky.

Misperception about Inventor Workplaces Still Persists.

Young people still associate inventors with garages.

Young people still associate inventors with garages.

38 percent of respondents think that inventors work “at home or in their garage,” rather than at a small company or start-up, large company, college or university, or elsewhere.

Young People Chose Japan, U.S. as Inventive Leaders.

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Japan outranks the U.S. in terms of countries leading the way in invention, according to 57 percent of respondents. The U.S. ranked second with 32 percent, still a much higher percentage than other countries.

Invention Education, Funding Needed to Improve U.S. Position and Inspire Young Inventors. 30 percent of respondents indicate the best way to encourage aspiring inventors in the U.S. is to provide them with invention projects during school, such as access or time in labs and creative field trips, or to provide them with governmental funding (also 30 percent), such as research grants or company development money.

Students Prefer to Study Math and Science. Male and female respondents list math (26 percent of men, 23 percent of women) and science (27 percent of men, 19 percent of women) as their favorite subjects in school, ranking above English, foreign languages, history, performing and visual arts, and other subjects.

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Young People Possess Inventive Skills, but Do Not Think they are Inventive. 69 percent of young Americans characterize themselves as creative, the top characteristic they associate with inventors, but only 33 percent describe themselves as inventive.

Invention Interests are Consumer-Focused.

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Almost one in three (30 percent) of young men and women would most like to invent a consumer product invention. Men also chose web-based inventions (22 percent) and women chose health science inventions (30 percent) at high rates.

Motivation to Invent is Altruistic. Almost half (44 percent) of young people say improving the lives of others might make them consider inventing – more so than making more money, having fun or achieving fame.

ABOUT THE INVENTION INDEX

The Lemelson-MIT Invention Index, celebrating its 15th year, is an annual survey that gauges Americans’ perceptions about invention and innovation. The 2011 Lemelson-MIT Invention Index survey was conducted by Opinion Research Corporation December 14-20, 2010, using an internet-based, multiple-choice format. The sample size of 1,000 respondents, ages 16-25, at the 95 percent confidence level would equate to + or – 3.2 percent margin of error had this been a random sample.

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