Edison Nation Poll Reveals: 95% of Americans Believe Innovation & New Inventions Are Important to the U.S. Economic Recovery
4 in 10 Everyday Americans Have Ideas for New Inventions or Improvements to Existing Products - Yet Just 9% Applied for Patents
Edison Nation Innovation Fund Launches Offering $25 Million To Encourage & Assist Any and All American Innovators In Making Their Dreams Come True
CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly all Americans (95%) agree with President Obama's call for a "Sputnik Moment" during his State of the Union message – a return to innovation and invention as a way to spur the growth of the U.S. economy – according to a new scientifically valid poll from Edison Nation (www.edisonnation.com), the "idea-to-shelf" incubator behind such consumer-driven products as the Emery Cat, the Gyro Bowl and Mister Steamy.
The survey also finds that four in 10 Americans are already thinking like modern-day Thomas Edisons stating that they've had an idea for a new invention or concept for improving a product already in the marketplace.
Unfortunately, more than two-thirds (67%) never made a go of their idea. Merely nine percent of those aspiring inventors filed for a patent and only 14 percent contacted a manufacturer to discuss licensing or production.
Of those that did not attempt to make their invention or innovation a reality, more than half (51%) said it was because of a lack of money, connections, expertise or time.
Additionally, there appears to be an "innovation generation" among 25 – 34 year olds, with more than half (55%) stating that they have an idea for an invention or product improvement, a significant number in contrast to those 50-plus (39% for 50 – 64 & 33% for 65+).
This poll about U.S. invention was conducted in conjunction with the launch of the Edison Nation Innovation Fund, a source of financing for everyday Americans who have ideas – in any stage of development – for new product innovations and technologies.
"With the establishment of the Edison Nation Innovation Fund, it seemed vital to take a survey of Americans' own thoughts, feelings and pursuits when it comes to the inventive spirit," said Louis Foreman, CEO of Edison Nation. "It's particularly interesting to see that those people with ideas for new innovations were halted due to a lack of resources that our new fund and staff of world-class engineers, industrial designers, researchers, marketers, lawyers and U.S. Patent-holding inventors will be able to provide."
Beginning today, anyone with a great idea can log on to (www.edisonnation.com) to register and submit his or her idea for Edison Nation Innovation Fund consideration. This new initiative from Edison Nation will act as a private investment-style fund for new ideas and will invest up to $25 million in the development of new products or technologies in order to take ideas from concept to consumer.
Edison Nation is free to join. To celebrate the launch of the Fund, Edison Nation is providing an exclusive introductory submission cost of $25 per idea. Visit www.edisonnation.com for more information.
The Edison Nation Innovation Fund is just one part of Edison Nation's invention-centric multi-platform organization, which includes the public television series entering into its 4th season Everyday Edisons; the 25-year old national magazine Inventors Digest; and the namesake Edison Nation sponsored idea search service which has brought dozens of products to market in over 25,000 stores nationwide through partnerships with leading retailers and manufacturers.
Survey Methodology
The survey was conducted utilizing OmniTel, GfK's weekly national telephone Omnibus service. Each OmniTel study consists of 1,000 adults aged 18 or older (half men, half women). The sample is based on a random digit dialing (RDD) probability sample of all telephone households in the continental United States. The RDD sampling system guarantees an equal probability of selection for every household. All completed interviews are weighted to ensure accurate and reliable representation of the total population 18 years of age and older according to the latest census figures. Weighting factors include gender, age, education, ethnicity and region.
The results from this study were conducted February 11-13, 2011. A total of 1,005 interviews were completed (481 males and 524 females). The margin of error for this study is plus/minus 3.0 percentage points and is higher for subgroups.
SOURCE Edison Nation
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