The Ohio Young Inventor Fellowship is a new program developed by the Ohio Academy of Science in partnership with i3 Invention Labs. Designed for students who have already done serious work through Science Days, the Buckeye Science and Engineering Fair, or Ohio STEP, the Fellowship offers a focused next step: three weeks dedicated to moving a developed idea toward validated concept and an early commercialization pathway. The program concludes with a live final showcase, where students present to an authentic audience of OAS staff, i3 mentors, and industry professionals.

This summer, we will be piloting some aspects of the Fellowship in order to align the program to the needs of students with the full launch. As such, this first cohort will be smaller than subsequent years. We are launching with 15-30 students drawn from strong performers across our existing programs, and we are building the experience with care, intentionality, and a clear focus on what works. The pilot format gives us the opportunity to test mentorship structures, refine the curriculum, and design something we can scale into a permanent OAS offering in the years ahead. Students in this first cohort will not only complete the program; they will help shape what the Fellowship becomes. Students who are a part of the pilot cohort will receive priority registration in later years.

The program runs over three weeks, with each week focused on a distinct phase of the inventor’s process. Week 1 centers on definition and validation: framing the problem clearly, identifying the people who would actually use the idea, and conducting an introductory patent and prior art search. Week 2 moves into development and feasibility: refining the concept, identifying what makes it different from existing solutions, and beginning to think commercially about how the idea could move into the world. Week 3 is about communication: turning the validated concept into a clear, compelling pitch and practicing the storytelling skills that move ideas forward. An in-person kickoff opens the program, virtual workshops and small-group mentor sessions run throughout, and the live final showcase closes it.

Students should expect to commit 4-5 hours per week of their time and attention to this work. Each week includes both synchronous and asynchronous activities, structured workshops, and at least one mentor touchpoint, and each student will produce a deliverable that builds on the last: a one-page Idea Brief in Week 1, a Concept Summary in Week 2, and a final pitch in Week 3. Mentors will provide targeted feedback throughout, drawing on their professional experience in research, engineering, intellectual property, and commercialization. Students are expected to engage seriously with that feedback, to share work-in-progress with peers, and to bring the same rigor to this fellowship that they have brought to their earlier OAS programs.

What students gain from participating is the kind of experience that is difficult to find elsewhere at this stage. They will learn the framework that working inventors and founders actually use to evaluate and develop new ideas. They will gain a working understanding of intellectual property, market thinking, and feasibility analysis. They will receive direct mentorship from professionals who do this work for a living, and they will end the program with a polished pitch they have delivered live to an audience that includes potential investors. Participants leave the Fellowship with a portfolio piece for college applications and scholarship interviews, a network of mentors and peers, and a clearer sense of where their work could go next.

The Ohio Young Inventor Fellowship extends the Academy’s longstanding commitment to Ohio’s young scientific and entrepreneurial minds. For students who have already demonstrated what they can do through our existing programs, the Fellowship provides the next step: a chance to take a developed idea further than competition season allows, and to begin imagining how that idea might one day enter the real world.