Behind the Breakthrough Answers: “What advice would you give to young inventors?”

“The youngest inventors are, in fact, kids of any age who are interested in how things work. My advice for them is to find something you’re passionate about and pursue it creatively. With a hands-on approach, you can easily experiment to increase your knowledge – and that process is the very first step to being an inventor.”

“And don’t forget that communication is important! Effectively explaining your ideas can make you an even better inventor – you’ll be better at convincing the right people that your creation is valuable and can make the world a better place.” – Jake Russell, IV’s Invention Development Fund

“A quote from Marie Curie has inspired me for years: ‘Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.’ I always keep this in mind, because I can be intimidated by the idea of working on cutting edge ideas, even when I know I have something potentially groundbreaking in my head. So as young inventors and innovators, we should believe in ourselves and our ideas. If we don’t, our progress for humankind will stall.” – Pat Pataranutaporn, Student and Software Designer

“Any young person with a knack for learning can be an inventor. School and education are important because they teach you to learn. If young people can find a way to get interested in learning and then spend a lot of time doing it efficiently, they can go a very long way. They won’t have to worry about much else because they will be adaptable and always able to learn new things. My best advice is this: find anything that leads to learning and the rest will happen naturally. That is what makes learning and inventing so exciting – it never ends. It’s like getting new superpowers every single day.” – Pablos Holman, IV’s Resident Futurist

“We are part of an innovation society today, in large part because of young people. If we passionately explain to younger generations that they have the unique ability to develop technologies that can be leveraged for monetization, it would go a long way. Additionally, we need to educate younger individuals about innovation and invention, and patents in general. This will make them better “IP citizens” in the sense that they will understand how to obtain their own IP rights. They will also understand why respecting the IP rights of others is so important. It all comes down to education. Our younger generations are enthusiastic and intelligent. I have a lot of faith in them to not only understand and defend IP rights, but also to lead our innovative future.” – Phyllis Turner-Brim, IV Chief IP Counsel and Vice President

Want to hear more from these pioneers? Check out our original profiles of Jake, Pat, Pablos, and Phyllis. And don’t forget to follow the rest of our Behind the Breakthrough series by subscribing to our IV Insights blog and following our Facebook and LinkedIn pages.