Monthly Newsletters

The Mission of Public Invention is to “Invent in the public, for the public."

Glia builds tourniquets for Ukraine and Public Invention Helps

Invention is not exactly the same as engineering, but both require problem solving and innovation. Public Invention is proud to assist Glia, a Canadian firm, in its “Stop the Bleed” project making an open-source tourniquet for the terrible conflict in Ukraine. Not being a first responder, I only recently learned how important these devices are, …

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Comments on the Global Open Science Hardware Roadmap

I recently read the Global Open Science Hardware Roadmap published by the Gathering for Open Science Hardware (GOSH). It lays out a real program for promoting Open Science Hardware (that is, roughly speaking, lab equipment and field instruments.) I strongly support it, and have signed the manifesto petition. As it states, if we can make …

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Why we started and then froze a software effort for Ukraine

Disaster relief is different than the steady work of research, whether the disaster is natural or caused by human folly and greed. It is bursty and uncertain, urgent and unclear. When Russia invaded Ukraine, I thought the war would be over before Public Invention could possibly do anything. I was traveling to Auburn Alabama, in …

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Let’s Thank These Firms for Contributing to the Low Carbon Patent Pledge

Rich firms and persons in a America pay too little in taxes, and yet at the same time they get too few thanks. It is perfectly consistent to believe both of these things. I personally suspect the more they are thanked, the less they will resist paying higher taxes. Whether you believe this or not, …

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Register your Student Public Invention Club with Us!

Public Invention, Inc., (this non-profit) encourages student groups to create clubs at their schools devoted to the ideas of Public Invention and Humanitarian Engineering. In fact, we’ve written a article explaining how and why to do this, which we would be happy for you to share. However, to use the name “Public Invention”, which is …

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How to Start a Public Invention and Humanitarian Engineering Club at your University

— Robert L. Read, PhD, Founder Public Invention — Joshua M. Pearce, John M. Thompson Chair in Information Technology and Innovation Thompson Centre for Engineering Leadership & Innovation, Ivey Business School Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Western University — Avinash Baskaran, PhD candidate, Robotics, Auburn University — Megan Cadena, Biomedical Engineer, UT Austin

The Humanitarian Engineering Response to the Pandemic: The New Year’s Mid-game

By Ben Coombs “As to diseases, make a habit of two things – to help, or at least to do no harm.” written by Hippocrates in Epidemics.
 A Diagram of Major Humanitarian Engineering Efforts (Link allows zooming)   Early in 2020 the alarm bells rang out. All across the world people tuned into news about …

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