CIO’s Young Inventor Entrepreneurs Program (YiEP) is committed to developing a pipeline of innovative and entrepreneurial minded youth in the 9th, 10th and 11th Grades who want to revitalize Chicago communities using the concepts of problem solving, product design thinking and intellectual property ownership. CIO’s YiEP students have the resources of CIO’s onsite Prototyping Lab and local inventor entrepreneurs as Program facilitators to help them navigate through a six week invention Summer Camp. Services provided include:
Inspiring students to learn about STEM concepts and its connection to community economic prosperity. • Leading students in building proof-of-concept models, [prototyping designs, teamwork and developing communication/pitch skills.
a. Intro to Local Inventor entrepreneurs
b. Notes in their Logbook (Design, Testing, Market Research, Pitch Brainstorming) c. Prototype Support & Design
d. Leading students in understanding entrepreneurism through the lens of developing, Intellectual Property (IP) protection, monetizing and commercializing inventions.
The Chicago Inventors Organization (CIO) offers this FREE program to assist innovative and entrepreneurial minded students in tackling a problem they care about. CIO will support them for six weeks in the iterative process of solving community problems through design thinking and invention. It provides an engaging way to teach the eight Science & Engineering Practices, all while helping students foster their STEM identity and see themselves as problem-solvers.