California Invention Convention is an initiative to bring invention education into California schools and to celebrate the young inventors with a state-wide event.
Our first California Invention Convention was held April, 2017 in Santa Cruz with 55 young inventors attending and eight top inventors chosen to attend the national event. We have continued to grow the program — training new teachers and welcoming new schools into the program. In 2022-23, over 20,000 student went through the program in California and 400 were chosen to represent their school or afterschool program by participating in the (virtual) 2023 California Invention Convention sponsored by Analog Devices.
Schools from around the state have trained teachers in the program -from Mount Shasta to San Diego and points in-between. Over 20,000 K-12 students are participating in the program for school year 2022-23. Our growth in Southern California in particular has been such that there is now a Regional California Invention Convention sponsored by the Torrance Unified School District
California Invention Convention is a 501(c)3 and has a tax-exempt EIN. In 2022,we announced an official agreement allows the Lemelson-MIT Program (LMIT) to be the affiliate responsible for the California Invention Convention (CAIC).
Lemelson-MIT is now the state affiliate for the California Invention Convention with The Henry Ford in Dearborn, MI as part of the Global Affiliates program which provides support and resources. Winners from the California Invention Convention are eligible to attend the U.S. Nationals Invention Convention and if selected, to compete in the Global Invention Convention..