Lemelson Foundation

The Lemelson Foundation is a private 501(c)(3) philanthropy founded in 1993 by Jerome H. Lemelson and his wife Dorothy.

Jerome H. Lemelson based the foundation on his personal beliefs about the role of invention and inventors to the US economy. He believed that invention and innovation were keys to American economic success and dynamism. As a young inventor Lemelson conceived of the idea of a foundation that would support and celebrate independent inventors. He organized the foundation as a resource for young inventors and support them with funding, connections to role models, and training that would give emerging inventors the ability to develop, refine, and take their inventions to market.

In 1993, Jerome, his wife Dorothy, and his sons and their families established the Lemelson Foundation. A memorial video produced after Lemelson's death includes this statement he made in 1996: "I have had a substantial amount of success in the last five years licensing my patents, and I feel I have an obligation to plow back a portion of the income I made to improve the lot of the inventor in America, and to improve the future economy of this country." During the 1990s, the Foundation granted to a small group of grantees, including the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. More recently the Foundation has granted to a wider variety of organizations in the United States and developing world.

After Lemelson’s death in 1997, the foundation expanded its funding from programs in the USA to include developing countries. In 2003, the foundation hired its first executive director and expanded its programs support young inventors around the world focus on economic development for poor countries. Dorothy Lemelson, Lemelson's widow and current president of the foundation, stated that ″this new direction as an expansion of her husband's original vision.″ She explained, ″All his life, Jerry wanted to celebrate American invention. He felt it was what made this country strong. Now it's time to turn to the rest of the world and see what we can do for them.″

Based in Portland, Oregon, the foundation has donated or committed over $185 million to support education, invention, and innovation. In addition to supporting programs that assist inventors and supporting science and technology education in the U.S., in the last decade the foundation has broadened its mission to include fostering technological innovation that drives economic and social improvements in developing countries.

The foundation developed a framework called "Impact Inventing" to define its funding strategy. Impact inventing is based on three key concepts:

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