简体中文
EnglishWhat Is The Lemelson Foundation and What Does It Do?
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The Lemelson Foundation is a philanthropic organization whose stated mission is to improve lives through invention. It focuses on three areas — invention education, invention and entrepreneurship, and climate action — and works with inventors, educators, and entrepreneurs in the United States and around the world. If you want to understand the organization's priorities, find its programs, or read stories about inventors it supports, lemelson.org is the place to start.
What the organization says it does
The foundation describes its purpose as inspiring and educating the next generation of inventors and helping turn their ideas into invention-based businesses and commercial technologies. Its stated belief is that inventors will solve major challenges and improve lives in communities in the U.S. and globally.
The site frames this around the legacy of Jerome "Jerry" Lemelson and Dorothy "Dolly" Lemelson, and includes a section on the organization's history.
The three strategic funding areas
The foundation organizes its work into three areas, each described on the site:
| Area | What the site says it covers |
|---|---|
| Invention Education | Developing STEM-based invention education |
| Invention & Entrepreneurship | Supporting ecosystems for invention-based businesses, from incubation to market |
| Climate Action | Leveraging the tools of invention and innovation to address climate change |
These three areas are the clearest signal of what the foundation funds and promotes. If your interest is in STEM education, early-stage invention-based ventures, or climate innovation, these are the sections to read first.
What you'll find on the website
The site mixes program information with storytelling and news:
- Program and funding area descriptions for the three areas above.
- Invention Notebook, a blog-style section with stories about inventors and grantees. Examples include young inventors using AI to build affordable text-to-speech glasses for visually impaired students, and an invention education teacher describing how the field led her back to her community.
- Latest News, covering topics such as derisking funding for social impact entrepreneurship, climate innovation in Oregon, and efforts to make STEM accessible to all students.
- Team and organizational content, such as staff profiles and history.
Who it's relevant to
Based on the site's own descriptions, the content is aimed at people interested in invention education, invention-based entrepreneurship, and climate-focused innovation — including educators, founders, funders, and students. The site does not present itself as a direct application portal for individuals; it describes strategic funding areas and highlights grantees and partners rather than listing open calls for proposals.
How to use the site
- Start with the Strategic Funding Areas section to see which of the three areas matches your interest.
- Read Invention Notebook and Latest News for concrete examples of what the foundation supports and how grantees describe their work.
- Check the Our History and founder sections if you want context on the organization's origins and values.
The site does not publish pricing or access restrictions for its content, and nothing in the available material indicates that reading it requires an account. Treat the program descriptions as the foundation's own framing of its work, and use the linked stories as examples rather than as a complete list of what it funds.