Yesterday, the USPTO held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and presented awards to students with superior problem-solving capabilities. A new exhibit, entitled “Shoes: Innovations at Your Feet” was unveiled yesterday by Jon Dudas (Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office) and David Fink (President and CEO, National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF)), comprising a collection of footwear and information regarding patents from the 1800s to date. In addition to the opening of the exhibit, Jon Dudas and David Fink also presented students in grades 2-12 with the first awards from the USPTO and NIHF co-sponsored ©®EA™ contest. This contest, according to the USPTO, “is a contest and classroom guide based on invention and problem solving” for children prior to entering college. According to the NIHF website (invent.org), this contest focused on three subsets of students (in grades 2-5, 6-8, and 9-12), posing different challenges to the students regarding the transportation of people without the use of gasoline and, for the high school students, transportation using “renewable alternative sources of power.”

Exhibit Unveiling Press Release: LINK
Student Award Press Release: LINK
National Inventors Hall of Fame Website: LINK
©®EA™ Contest Information: LINK
USPTO Museum Information: LINK