Florida’s Spirit of Innovation Shines Brightly in the Next Generation

The communities of the Florida High Tech Corridor are impressive when it comes to innovative talent. The generation to come — cultivated in programs from the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame , National Academy of Inventors , the Cade Museum for Creativity & Invention and many more initiatives — shows incredible promise.

By Paul Sohl

Zoe Kidd of Tampa just won a national prize for the licensing potential of her invention, a new tool for competitive softball pitchers. She did that after winning regional awards here in Florida. Zoe is just 9.

?If you know our region, you already know that it’s one of the great centers of innovation in the United States. The Florida High Tech Corridor is not only home to some of the nation’s leading research universities — the University of Central Florida , the University of South Florida and 美国佛罗里达大学 — but also a private sector that pushes the boundaries of aerospace, life sciences, gaming, cybersecurity, semi-conductors and many other sectors. The inventive spirit that defines the region on a national and international level also extends to our youngest bright minds too.

This thriving culture of inspiring innovation was driven home for me recently when I served as a judge at the national Invention Convention at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit and then again just days later at the National Academy of Inventors (founded and headquartered at the USF) annual conference in North Carolina’s Research Triangle. I came back from that experience incredibly energized and proud of the sheer talent being produced across our region and state.

?The Invention Convention drew about 450 students, from third grade to high school seniors, to the Henry Ford Museum to show off their inventions and compete for honors. These students are the best young inventors in the nation, culled from more than150,000 participants at smaller competitions around the country. Florida students were lauded in a dozen categories for their inventions.

?Don’t think this was some cute and quaint science fair: Like Zoe, these Florida students won in categories based on patent applications and potential industry use. These inventions are the real deal.

?These standouts are students like Daniel Park from King High School in Hillsborough County, a budding biomedical engineer who has come up with a new way to clean pollutants from the environment. Sonia Patel from Community School of Naples , invented instrumentation for optometry practitioners to practice suturing. It’s her second winning invention related to improving care for eye disease; her first invention (now patent pending) to help optometrists learn how to diagnose glaucoma was inspired by her grandfather’s struggle with the disease.

Sonia also was invited to present her invention at the National Academy of Inventors conference and was awarded the Genspiration Prize for the K-12 category. The Genspiration Foundation is a family foundation founded by USF President Emerita Judy Genshaft and her husband, Steve Greenbaum. The foundation’s mission is supporting education and innovation through initiatives that deliver measurable and impactful outcomes benefiting society.

?Other Florida students invented new technologies to address problems like citrus greening and the transportation system. It’s amazing not only how aware these students are of some our state’s challenges, but their problem-solving skills are mature far beyond their years.

?This is the good stuff that happens when we create a culture of invention and innovation and help our children find pathways to pursue their original ideas; they’ll take the ball and run with it if we just given them a place to start. You’ll see that same thinking at work at the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention in Gainesville, which opens doors to new ideas from its programs for the youngest of students all the way up to the annual Cade Prize, which has grown into a national program for the most promising startups.

Not only do these programs foster enthusiasm for learning and provide students with great skills in research, but it encourages them to apply what they know to take on the toughest problems — a valuable life lesson even if their invention never makes it to market.

Equally important: They are learning not to take a test or pass a grade or get into a competitive university — although they will do all of that with the skills they gain — but they are applying their newly acquired knowledge to serve the greater good.

?If you want to see the bright future ahead, recently USF was selected as the official state affiliate for Invention Convention Worldwide , working with the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame to bring hundreds of young inventors to Tampa in the spring of 2025 to compete for state honors and an opportunity to go on to the national competition. At the Corridor, we’re proud to support these program and events because they are investments in our future — and the future is coming at us fast!