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Over two days nearly 37,000 people filled the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.,
for a celebration of American ingenuity.
Featuring 11 exhibitors from corporations,
academic institutions, the federal government, and independent inventors, the innovation
festival brought together diverse, patented technologies in one inspiring location.
Visitors also attended educational presentations and got to meet such historical innovators
as
Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, and Madame C.J. Walker.
"So invent, create, and innovate!"
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It has been fascinating walking around seeing how many different things are represented
and how interested the visitors are.
My name is Aleksandar Egelja. I'm one of the engineers from Caterpillar here. Today what
we'll be talking about is one of our patents that is applied in our newest 663 hybrid excavator.
The bowl is definitely spill resistant. So it's designed for kids who are trying not
to spill their snacks.
I am Kristin Bell. I invented the VestPackz. My teacher asked us to come up with a problem
and solve the problem with an invention. So my problem was heavy backpacks.
My name is Alexei Novitsky, and these are my skateboards. They're the only skate boards
in the world that open and you put can your personal items inside.
Here we have the OxySure Model 615. It's a portable emergency oxygen device for layperson use.
I've been an engineer with Qualcomm Research for about eight years. We believe in creating
a culture where people can innovate and form teams and bring the next ideas into market
and the future that can then change the world.
Hi, I'm Leanne Gluck. I'm the director of social impact at 3D Systems. 3D Systems is
actually one of the largest 3D Printing companies in the world. We invented 3D printing.
Most people think USDA is involved in food safety and certification, inspection, and
grade- A chickens, and things like that. What they don't realize is most of the food we
eat are USDA innovations and technologies.
The idea came to me because I was working with dancers with and without disabilities,
and also my father was in a severe car accident, which left him disabled. So I started thinking
a lot about the design of wheelchairs and ways in which we can make wheelchairs more
interactive with people and also make the wheelchair an expressive device.
We're here to talk about the inflatable seat belt. We combine the two technologies with
the air bag and the seat belt, and we came up with this inflatable belt system.
Today we're making models and showing products that are done on what's called a Makerbot
3D Printer, which is available for anyone to use in their home to create almost anything
you can imagine.
The Innovation Festival is the first of many exciting events to come under a new agreement
between the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
For the next five years this collaboration will help ignite the inventive spirit in a
new generation of innovators and creators in America. So get ready, because we're just
getting started.
Inventorship is kind of at the forefront of what makes America America in my opinion.
You just have all of these people who had these small ideas who turned into big empires.
And little places like these that just really facilitate that conversation, educate, and
gives the ability for people to showcase their stuff from all around the world. It's really
important.
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