MidWest TechBiz

Popular Science Looking for Creative Inventions that Make a Difference

Popular Science magazine is looking for inventors to showcase in its third annual "Inventions of the Year" issue. PopSci wants people who have spent their own time in a garage, backyard or basement lab on a personal quest.

The inventions should pose creative, tech-driven solutions to real problems. This isn't about finding a better mop or a more refined can opener – it's about developing a more natural artificial foot, or a sewage-proof suit for hazmat divers, or an electric moto-unicycle. In other words, something that makes a difference like never before.

This is Popular Science’s third year for the awards. The previous winners make for interesting reading:

2007: http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2007-06/2007-popsci-invention-awards
2008: http://www.popsci.com/taxonomy/term/43300/all

Guidelines:

• Inventions should be new and not just incremental improvements on existing items.
• Inventors should have had to overcome some technological hurdle or challenge.
• There must be a working prototype or some technology demonstration.
• The invention should be a physical object – no processes or concepts.
• Inventions must come from the work of independent inventors or small teams; outside funding is fine, but inventions created solely from universities or R&D labs will not be considered.
• PopSci will not publish an entry online or in print without notifying the inventor first, but we will seek third-party verification of the technology and significance of the invention. All intellectual-property protection is the responsibility of the entrant.

PopSci editors will pick 10 inventions to showcase the homegrown spirit of ingenuity that solves real-world problems in practical and innovative ways. These inventions will be presented to PopSci's seven million readers in the June 2009 issue.

All final entries must be received by February 1, 2009.

If you think you’ve got a winning invention or know of an invention that meets the above guidelines, please send a pitch no longer than a few paragraphs to . The pitch should explain what the invention does that nothing else has done before, what problem the invention solves, and the technological innovation behind the invention.

Send your short pitch to Jeremy Hsu at jmichael.hsu@gmail.com and let me know when you do, so we can watch for it in the June PopSci. Thanks!