Announcing the 2026 Independent Inventor Program Finalists

The Invention Convention Independent Inventor Program has concluded the 2026 virtual competition!

The Independent Inventor Program (IIP) is a pathway for those inventors who do not otherwise have access to a state or regional affiliate program in which to compete in Invention Convention Worldwide (ICW). This year, more than 600 youth inventors participated in the IIP program in the classroom or homeschool setting from: Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.  

More than 100 youth inventors earned invitations to the 2026 Independent Inventor Program’s virtual competition, in which inventors submit their video presentations and supporting materials for an opportunity to advance to RTX Invention Convention U.S. Nationals 2026. Fifty-five of those invited students competed in this year’s IIP competition. Over the last few weeks, our judges have been reviewing projects and they have been impressed with this year’s cohort of incredible youth inventors who are creating unique inventions to solve problems that matter to them. Judges viewed and evaluated each entry, providing constructive feedback for the youth inventors to continue optimizing their inventions. Entrants will receive their feedback by the end of the month. We encourage all IIP youth inventors to read through the judges’ feedback carefully and use it to make their inventions even better! Keep iterating! Keep inventing!

This year’s selected finalists have the opportunity to compete with winners from other ICW programs around the country at RTX Invention Convention U.S. Nationals 2026. This in-person competition will be hosted at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan, from June 3-5.

The results are in, and the following inventions are the IIP 2026 finalists moving on to U.S. Nationals:

(presented in alphabetical order by project)

• Dyslexia Tool: A Picture–Word Approach to Better Reading, invented by Kevin M. from Arkansas. 
• MICkey Innovation, invented by Amanda L. and Jessica L. from New Jersey. 
• Mirai - An Alternative for Electrochemical Batteries, invented by Anirudh R. from Colorado. 
• PackSense, invented by Lucas Aiden O. from Washington. 

CONGRATULATIONS to the finalists and best of luck! Invent it Forward!