It’s time to get together for the sake of inventing! Inventionland is gearing up to host WQED’s Invention Convention 2013 – a day filled with invention challenges, advice from engineers and inventors and even an appearance by the cast of WGBH’s “Design Squad Nation.”

And, that’s not all. Students in grades 5-8 (and their families) are invited to the Saturday, April 6, 2013 event at Inventionland, where they can bring invention ideas, paper prototypes or models for review by Inventionland Creationeers. Students are even able to construct their own prototypes on-site.

Interested students can register for one of two sessions, which are slated from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Space is limited, so if you know a young, aspiring inventor, encourage them to attend (and to bring you, of course!)

Find out more about Invention Convention 2013 here.

Last month, Inventionland hosted the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation’s “A Sweet Gesture” fundraising event. Today, we’re pleased to announce that the official numbers have been tallied and the event raised nearly $56,000 for the Foundation’s Family Life Auxiliary.

The Valentine’s Day “A Sweet Gesture: Chocolate Factory of Invention” event attracted more than 420 guests to our creative wonderland, which Whirl Magazine deemed a “magnet for inventors with a dream” in their April 2013 issue, which has just hit newsstands.

“Guests reveled in the presentation and taste of fresh fruit kebabs, displayed on giant red and white polka-dotted mushrooms, with vanilla dipping sauce and real golden eggs filled with velvety cream of tomato soup. How sweet, and scrumptious,” Whirl’s writer commented.

The magazine also published a few photos from the event in their latest issue and online at whirlmagazine.com.

The Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation’s event at Inventionland was also covered in the Pittsburgh Business Times’ “After Hours” section in early March.

There, Mr. and Mrs. Davison appeared with David and Laura Mabon. Ms. Mabon co-chaired the event.

Congratulations to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation on another great “A Sweet Gesture” event! We’re so glad we got to be a part of it!

Recently, a self-proclaimed, gadget-obsessed “Serious Eats” blogger took a hearty bite out of the Davison-designed Clip & Drain. The product, which is as easy to use as its name sounds, clips right to the edge of a pot, so that you can strain spaghetti, vegetables, broth or anything else you might be whipping up.

Donna Currie tested out the Clip & Drain after she watched a pot of spaghetti wash down her kitchen sink. According to Currie, “there’s no five-second-rule for that.”

So, Currie tried it the Davison way with the Clip & Drain. How did her trial go?

“The curious thing about this product is that no one thought if it before. It’s a genius idea, and it works really well,” said Currie, who found that the product solved a lot more than her initial spaghetti-dropping woes.

“Although I like using this thing for draining potatoes, pasta, and vegetables, I found it even more useful when I was straining some stock,” Currie said.

Read Currie’s entire Clip & Drain blog review here.

At Davison, when we say, “more products on store shelves,” we’re not kidding!

And, today, we’ve got another awesome example to prove it:

18 Davison-designed inventions are now at Petco in Fox Chapel!

Actually, the Cat Toys and Jaws chew toys for dogs, which were licensed by Hugs Pet Products, are rolling out at Petco locations across the country! Of course, we wanted to talk with Davison Founder and CEO immediately.

Mr. Davison’s initial response to the news?

“HOLY NEWS DAY!!!!!!! Yahoooooooo!!!!!”

Mr. Davison further explained what it meant to have that many products in one location… and, so near to our company headquarters.

“The news came into my office and an exhilarating feeling took over. I stopped everything I was doing and grabbed a couple people to go down to Petco to take some pictures and to check out all the products,” said Mr. Davison. “We first saw one end cap and it was surreal; then, we saw another end cap on the other side of the store. We had cats on one side and dogs on the other… it was a fabulous experience.”

Mr. Davison also told us that the exciting news reminded him of an earlier time in his career.

“I had a flashback to 1989, at a time in my life where we didn’t have one product on the shelf yet. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that, in 1989, we had a dream and, yes, we get to see one product hit shelf from time to time; but, 18 at once at an industry leader seems surreal,” said Mr. Davison. “It’s a dream come true in a lot of ways.”

But, Mr. Davison said, he continues to follow that dream.

“We still have plenty to do yet.”

It is always great to see a familiar face… especially when that face is one of our clients who just happens to be in our hometown for a visit!

Coming all the way from her home in Minnesota, Jean Rindfuss, the mastermind behind Chicago Metallic’s Meatball Baker, decided to stop in to visit with one of her contacts at the company where her idea for healthier meatballs was made into a QVC-selling success story…. enter Davison!

Jean and her husband, Don, who was major motivation for the creation of her innovative kitchen product, contacted Davison Vice President of Business Development and Licensing while they were passing through western Pennsylvania.

“[Jean] and her husband [were] traveling to Florida and [were] making a couple stops along the way. They contacted me… and mentioned they were going to pass through Pittsburgh on their way to Virginia Beach… [so, we] went out for dinner and a drink,” said the VP.

They met up at yinzer-favorite Fat Head’s Saloon in Pittsburgh’s South Side. And, this isn’t the first time that the Rindfuss family has visited Davison after utilizing our Better Way to Invent.

Read more about Jean and where her Davison-designed Meatball Baker has led her to.

Today, we’re heating things up and taking you back to the long, sunny days of summer when we first introduced a few Davison-designed cat toys.

At the time, Hugs Pet Products, who licensed the innovative line that promises to keep cats occupied for hours, was preparing to showcase the toys at one of the pet product industry’s biggest trade shows, SuperZoo in Las Vegas.

Well, since that time the weather has turned colder, but some pretty purr-fect things have been happening for the toys, which are proving to be hot – hot – HOT!

“Look what hit Petco stores…” said Davison Vice President of Business Development and Licensing, when he shared a photo of the line on store shelves earlier this month.

That’s right, several toys in Hugs’ innovative cat line have landed (on all four-feet, of course) on the shelves at the leading pet specialty retailer. Of course, we’re “feline” pretty good about the placement!

“Hugs and Inventionland are excited to finally see the new innovative cat items starting to hit PETCO stores. The six new items look great on the store shelf and we look forward to the continued success with Petco in this category,” said Simbeck.

Check out the Wobble Ball, Mouse Trap, Teeter Rocker, Wibble Wobble, Whack-A-Mouse and Purr-Fect Ball on Petco shelves.

Check back for more updates on these much meowed-for pet products!

In their 110th anniversary special, Popular Mechanics (PM) magazine editors have featured none other than our very own CEO and founder, Mr. Davison!  The article, titled “The World of Tomorrow,” relies on Davison, among several other scientists, engineers and consultants to boldly make 110 predictions for the next 110 years.
“It’s never easy to predict the future, but… we’ve decided to give it a try (with a little help from some very smart friends),” said PM editors.

Who are those smart friends?  PM fondly refers to the over 20-person panel as their “Brain Trust.”
“… we tried to balance our deep-rooted techno-optimism with some hardheaded skepticism,” said PM editors.
Here is just a glimpse of what the PM Brain Trust predicted:

WITHIN 20 YEARS…Self-driving cars will hit the mainstream market.Battles will be waged without direct human participation (think robots or unmanned aerial vehicles).The first fully functional brain-controlled bionic limb will arrive.
WITHIN 30 YEARS…All-purpose robots will help us with household chores.Space travel will become as affordable as a round-the-world plane ticket.Soldiers will use exoskeletons to enhance battlefield performance.

WITHIN 40 YEARS…Nanobots will perform medical procedures inside our bodies.

WITHIN 50 YEARS…We will have a colony on Mars.Doctors will successfully transplant a lab-grown human heart.We will fly the friendly skies without pilots onboard.And renewable energy sources will surpass fossil fuels in electricity generation.

WITHIN 60 YEARS…Digital data (texts, songs, etc.) will be zapped directly into our brains.We will activate the first fusion power plant.And we will wage the first battle in space.

WITHIN 100 YEARS…The last gasoline-powered car will come off the assembly line.

See more of the PM Brain Trust’s predictions and read the entire article here.

Recently, KDKA’s Kristine Sorensen got a sweet taste of our creative workspace, in preparation for next Thursday’s Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation “A Sweet Gesture” fundraising event.

Sorensen’s tour aired during the CBS affiliate’s newscast last week and featured several sweet details not only about Inventionland, but also how the Foundation co-chairs asked Mr. Davison to host the Valentine’s Day event.

He explains how event organizers made up a chocolate prototype to ask him to host the Willy Wonka-themed evening.

“How do you turn down a request like that?” Mr. Davison asks.

Walking Sorensen through Inventionland’s secret bookcase-entrance, which will lead party-goers to the charity event, Mr. Davison explains how Inventionland is a creative mind-set that is meant to inspire inventors.

“This is the creative space that we dream everything up in,” says Mr. Davison.

Sorensen was quick to notice that the fantasy-like environment was much more than just a Disney-esque theme park.

“There’s a surprise at every turn… they’re creating, problem-solving, inventing – and, it’s working, based on the array of products floating through the building that are samples of real success stories,” says Sorensen.

After Sorensen interviews Mr. Davison, she speaks with the “Sweet Gesture” co-chairs, Tori Yoos and Laura Mabon, who explain how they plan to utilize the magnificent facility.

“The entire night is full of many surprises…” says Yoos.  “Everything you can imagine will be here:  food, music, drinks… activities… a fun, fun night.”

All proceeds from “A Sweet Gesture” benefit Children’s Hospital’s Family Life Fund.  For more information on the event, click here.

See Sorensen’s entire Inventionland tour here.

Each year, one of the largest trade shows that Davison’s licensing team attends is the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas.  Aside from seeing the latest and greatest products in the electronics world, the show is an opportunity to meet with current companies that Davison targets for new product presentations and to develop relationships with new companies, too.

One of the ways that Davison is forging these relationships is by leveraging the work that Dan Simbeck is doing with companies to see how it can apply to other industries. Last week, we showed you a few of the cutting edge products from the show, but if you’re wondering what was the show’s biggest, Vescio said he thinks it was the overwhelmingamount of products that people can personalize before they purchase.

Stay tuned for this dynamic duo’s next trip on the Trade Show circuit:  The 110th annual American International Toy Fair in New York

Often times, we share community events, fundraisers and benefits that we think you may be interested in helping with. And, just as often, the Davison Team comes together and makes incredible contributions to support the various causes.

Most recently, our team pulled together in less than two weeks to donate toys for the 2012 Marines’ Toys for Tots drive. Thanks to our efforts, nearly 224 children were able to receive holiday gifts this season.

We’ve also just received two awesome “thank you’s” from a couple other causes we contributed to last year. And, we were so moved by the thanks, we just had to share.

Last September, Mr. Davison supported the Walk to Defeat ALS®. Walk organizers were more than grateful for the donation:

“Mr. Davison & Inventionland Crew,

Thank you very much for your generous support of the Pittsburgh Walk to Defeat ALS! Enclosed is a thank you video with scenes of Walk Day, thank you cards from some family members and walk t-shirts for the staff. This is just a small token of our great appreciation of your support! We also enclosed information about the 2013 Walk. We hope to work with you again on this great event.

With heartfelt thanks,
Jenni Franz
Another community project, the Aspinwall Riverfront Park Project, sought our help so that they could even keep their mission alive. Their “thank you” gesture was absolutely moving!

Mr Davison,

Thank you for your support and [for bringing] such creativity into the world.

“In 2011, when we decided to purchase the Aspinwall Marina to turn it into a park, many thought it impossible. Simply put, the odds were not in our favor. The facts were: the sale was complex, large and sophisticated companies had tried to buy the property and failed, and last, but not least, $2.3 million would need to be raised in a matter of months. Chances were that a small, grassroots effort, backed by the Fox Chapel District Association and Friends of the Riverfront, would be able to pull it off “when pigs fly.”

As I write to you, it’s been a little over a year since our community proved that we have what it takes to make pigs fly. Once again, what we’re trying to achieve seems entirely unrealistic to some. The odds are challenging. It takes most communities ten years to build a park – and we don’t intend to build the average park. The deadlines we have now are ones we put on ourselves. Our model isn’t typical. Instead of relying on taxpayers, we’re building an endowment and healthy business that will pay for the park’s upkeep (and we’re doing this at the same time we’re trying to build the park no less). The economy is sluggish. We all have many important things competing for our time, money and attention.

But, like you, we believe in possibility. And, big audacious goals. And, the potential to create something wonderful and lasting. When I look in the eyes of the kids who mowed lawns and sold lemonade, the hundreds of volunteers this year who planned parties, planted flowers, and removed thousands of pounds of concrete, weeds and garbage from the property – it’s crystal clear that our work is even more important this time around. We need to build Aspinwall Riverfront Park, so that kids who worked so hard can enjoy it while they are still kids. Our goal is to have some portion of the park open to the public by the end of 2013. We’re looking forward to working with you to reach it.

It’s the greatest privilege to be part of something that will be a permanent gift to this generation and the ones to come. Thank you for your on-going support that makes what seems impossible possible.

With gratitude and our best wishes for the happiest of holidays,
Susan Crookston and the Board of Aspinwall Riverfront Park (Davitt, Chip, Kevin, Tim, Trish, Tim, Scott)

Thank you to all members of the Davison Team who so willingly contribute to these great community causes! Keep up the great work!