ATLANTA, GA - With funding from The Lemelson Foundation, EARTH University in Costa Rica is beginning to explore ways to implement Lemelson’s Invention for Sustainable Development Program in Central America. The grant enables EARTH to study the feasibility of creating a “hub and spokes” network of academic, private sector, non-profit and governmental institutions. The network would encourage and support invention and innovation that improves the quality of life in Central America. The new partnership will enrich and complement EARTH University’s strategic goals of expanding an entrepreneurial mentality in the region.

EARTH University is a premier, international agricultural university that educates young leaders from over twenty countries throughout the Americas and the world in the agricultural sciences and natural resources so they can contribute to sustainable development in the humid tropics. The Lemelson Foundation, based in Portland, Oregon, uses its resources to inspire, encourage and recognize inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs. The Foundation’s Invention for Sustainable Development Program fosters and unleashes human creativity and invention to meet basic human needs and build sustainable livelihoods for the world’s poor people.

According to Julia Novy-Hildesley, Executive Director of The Lemelson Foundation, “Funding this feasibility study will allow The Lemelson Foundation and EARTH University to fulfill common goals. Both of our organizations are interested in fostering the inventive and innovative talents of individuals to make direct contributions to sustainable development in Latin America and around the world.”

EARTH University President José Zaglul says that “EARTH’s partnership with The Lemelson Foundation is a natural fit. EARTH University shares the Lemelson Foundation’s vision and beliefs, understands the innovation process, and possesses strong links to the communities it serves.” EARTH already has established relationships with agricultural universities and academic organizations interested in promoting sustainability and entrepreneurship throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Beginning in 2004, faculty and staff at EARTH University will identify a broad range of partner organizations and target populations for stimulating invention and innovation. Later this year, EARTH will host an international symposium to identify key institutions and mentors for a possible “hub and spokes” network and to develop a strategy for implementing an invention-based model of sustainable development. Stakeholders from across Latin America will study whether a recognition and mentoring program (RAMP) center could serve as an effective “hub” with supporting “spokes” for Central America that could then extend to include first the Andean countries of South America and eventually the Southern Cone (Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, and Chile). By the end of the planning process, EARTH University and The Lemelson Foundation envision a network that will be successful in mentoring and awarding inventors and innovators who develop new products and processes designed to benefit society. The planners also hope to define a process for disseminating inventions and innovations through viable businesses, NGO’s, governmental programs and multi-lateral projects.

EARTH University
EARTH University trains young leaders in the agricultural sciences and natural resources in order to contribute to sustainable development in the humid tropics throughout Latin America and around the world. EARTH’s current study body consists of students from 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, two countries in Africa (Uganda and Mozambique), Canada, Indonesia and Japan. Each year, EARTH recruits approximately 100 students based on their commitment to serve others, ethical and human values, leadership potential and desire to address critical environmental and social issues in their home countries. Of EARTH’s 915 graduates to date, 96 percent have remained in Latin America, 77 percent have returned to their home countries, two-thirds are working in rural areas and 20 percent have started their own businesses. In these communities where poverty and environmental degradation are most prevalent, EARTH graduates have significant impact.

EARTH’s educational philosophy combines a rigorous curriculum of business administration and agricultural science infused with a dedicated entrepreneurial spirit. These ideals are encouraged and nurtured throughout every phase of a student’s four years at EARTH. The school’s dedicated faculty of researchers and business professors are training young leaders to develop environmentally sustainable products and processes that add real commercial value to businesses, communities and regional economies. After graduating from EARTH, men and women from throughout the humid tropics return to their home countries with the knowledge, skills and ideals that enable them to succeed in the private sector in ways that also help alleviate poverty and reduce environmental damage.

Above: EARTH students and teacher at EARTH University campus in Costa Rica

EARTH University is directly involved in business development through the Center for Entrepreneurial Formation (CFE), which is located on EARTH’s campus. EARTH recently formed a private intermediary called Initiatives Agro-Tropicales, S.A. (IATSA), which facilitates financing for EARTH graduates with business proposals approved by the CFE. EARTH University has also developed several new products, including Eco-Hum, a biostimulant, which it markets through a separate for-profit entity, Productos del Trópico Húmedo. In the U.S., Whole Foods Market stores in Southern California and the greater Boston area are now selling sustainable bananas from EARTH’s commercial banana plantation. By the end of 2005, EARTH hopes to be supplying sustainable bananas to Whole Foods Market stores across the nation.

For more information about EARTH University’s innovative mission and the global impact of its programs, visit www.earth-usa.org or contact the EARTH University Foundation office in Atlanta, Georgia at 404-995-1231.

The Lemelson Foundation: Dedicated to promoting invention to improve the quality of life.

The Lemelson Foundation is a private philanthropy established by one of the most prolific U.S. inventors, Jerome Lemelson, and his family. It supports and recognizes inventors and entrepreneurs in order to strengthen and sustain social and economic life.

The Foundation holds assets of approximately $275 million; from inception through the year 2003 it had given or committed more than $87 million in support of its mission in the United States, and in 2002 launched a program to promote invention-based sustainable development in developing countries.

For more details, visit www.lemelson.org.

(Photos available upon request)

OLD DO NOT USE EARTH University

OLD DO NOT USE EARTH University

Since 1990, EARTH University’s innovative educational approach has been preparing young people from Latin America, the Caribbean and other regions, including Africa and Asia, to contribute to the sustainable development of their countries and construct a prosperous and just society. EARTH offers a rigorous four-year undergraduate program in agricultural sciences and natural resources management and a prestigious, international faculty, providing a world-class scientific and technological education that emphasizes values, ethical entrepreneurship and environmental and social commitment.

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