Coming to you from Washington DC where I was speaking at the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) annual conference.  Tonight was the highlight of the conference, March Madness for the Mind.  Oops, can't call it that any more because the NCAA decided they didn't like the juxtaposition with their annual collegiate basketball tournament.  So this year, it's actually called Open Minds, a characteristic the NCAA can't claim.

The NCIIA is a nonprofit that supports technology innovation and entrepreneurship in universities and colleges by providing grants and programs to support student innovation.  It is funded by the Lemelson Foundation, which was established by one of our most prolific inventors, Jerome Lemelson. Open Minds was held at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and featured student teams from around the globe exhibiting their inventions. A team of biomedical engineers from Johns Hopkins University worked on the problem of 6.3 million maternal and perinatal deaths every year, mostly in developing countries--deaths that are often preventable.  They have developed an antenatal screening kit that screens for things like pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, and malnutrition, among other things.  It's simple and intuitive to use by any community health worker.

The Art Center College of Design, in collaboration with an NGO in Santiago, Chile, developed a simple hot shower to help solve the problem of illness from lack of sanitation using very little water.  It's called the Ducha Halo and you can build it for $17 dollars with parts from the local hardware store.  These students have had a big impact in the eathquake-affected communities of Chile.

Follow this link to see videos of all the inventions - they're very inspiring.  And if you are a student at a university or college who wants to invent something that solves a real problem and makes a difference in the world, go to the NCIIA site and check out all the resources.  You might be presenting your invention at the Smithsonian next year.