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.

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!

What better way to end 2012 than by, yet again, being referred to as “the Henry Ford of inventing?”  That’s precisely what Keystone Edge, an online publication that covers the entrepreneurial ecosystem that drives Pennsylvania forward, has called our CEO and founder, Mr. Davison!

Recently, George Davison was featured on the site’s “Founders” section.  Among comparing him to Henry Ford, deeming the title “a praise that should not be viewed lightly,” Keystone Edge also called Mr. Davison “one heckuva entrepreneur.”

Further, the site goes on to highlight Inventionland and acknowledges that it “has been cited by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as one of the city’s best [companies] for which to work.”

Also included is an interview with Mr. Davison, where he covers his inspiration, biggest challenge and what’s next for Davison!

Read the entire Keystone Edge article here!

Recently, several members of the Davison Team made tracks at two Pittsburgh charity events.  One of our Corporate Creative Coaches led a team in this year’s Riverview Relay for Life and a Senior Director of New Products led another team in the St. Margaret Foundation’s 2012 Fitness Classic!

We’re happy to report that we’ve heard from both team leaders and this year’s events were resounding successes!

Here’s our Corporate Creative Coach’s report on the 2012 Riverview Relay for Life:

The Relay For Life in Oakmont this year was a great success!  Davison was a corporate sponsor this year again, and individual donations were received from [several Davison employees].  Last year [as part of our fundraising efforts], we had three dinosaurs and, this year, we added a Brachiosaurus to the family!  He was a great seller, but the T-Rex was again the best seller.  We raised a total of $232, nearly [doubling the] money brought in from the dinosaur sales and foam dart games from last year.  Word spread quickly around the Relay [as to] where the foam dart shoot and cardboard dinosaur booth was and the kids (and parents) came in great numbers!  Two local Pittsburgh sports mascots also stopped by to check out the booth… both the Penguins’ Iceberg and Steelers’ Steely McBeam stopped by the booth to shoot darts, as well as let us shoot them in their fleece costumes, which make great Velcro Nerf dart targets!  

In all, the Oakmont Relay and its teams raised $74,777!  WOW!

There is a part of the event called “Miss Relay,” where a team member dresses like a beauty queen and walks the track with a purse collecting donations.  I remember one “Miss Relay” in particular [that] stopped by our booth and shot a few darts.  We let “her” do it for free since “she” was working so hard at being Miss Relay; but, I then payed “her” a donation to leave the booth, because “she” was freaking me out!  

I would like to send out my thanks to everyone who contributed and helped out this year.  We will certainly have to raise the bar once again for next year’s relay!  [Last year, I predicted this year's success!]  I said, “Hint — it’s going to involve a lot more Nerf guns, targets, dinosaurs – and even more fun!”  The extra Nerf guns and dinos were an awesome success!

For more information on the 2012 Riverview Relay for Life, check out these links:   
http://triblive.com/news/1236196-74/cancer-relay-depew-ella-family-ceremony-event-oakmont-raise-track

http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/1827353-87/relay-donatucci-team-cancer-june-kiski-oakmont-valley-alle-ford

Our Senior Director of New Products also gave us an awesome report from the St. Margaret Foundation’s 2012 Fitness Classic:

St. Margaret’s Fitness Classic was a blast!  [Several Davison employees] showed up with [their families] and dogs… fun for the whole family!  [A few of us] started near the front of the pack running… but, running the whole distance was a little more than we were prepared for!   [A couple employees] represented Davison’s Irwin location by completing the 5K, also!

Everyone was dressed, on time and ready to go!  It was a great cause and I’m glad we were able to contribute!

For more information on the St. Margaret Foundation’s 2012 Fitness Classic, click here!

Congratulations to everyone who contributed to making both the Riverview Relay for Life and the St. Margaret Foundation’s 2012 Fitness Classic such awesome events!  Check out more event photos below:

On tonight’s new “Dare to Invent” webisode, our inventor and Creationeers are really having a ball… meatballs, actually!  

The sixth in our 13-episode series features Jean Rindfuss, inventor of the Meatball Baker.  The tasty episode is live now on YouTube and at Davison.com!

An avid cook and loving mother and grandmother, Jean tries to make perfect meatballs for her family, but the meatballs always end up covered in grease.

After receiving some disappointing news from her family’s doctor, Jean vows to make a healthier option and she brings her idea for improved meatballs to Davison.

Joey leads our creative team to make a health-friendly pan for baking meatballs.  Through a lot of research, a little bit of redesign and some ridiculous product testing, Jean’s Meatball Baker comes to life and even lands on QVC and on the shelves of major national retailers!

Get your taste buds ready and tune in now on YouTube and at Davison.com for all of the “D-licious” details as Jean “Dares to Invent!”

Enjoy an appetizer-sized portion of photos from tonight’s show below: 

A typical project does not get a royalty agreement, sell in stores or generate a profit.

According to the shorts and flip flops we’ve been wearing lately, spring has already sprung!

But, now that spring is officially here, what better way to highlight spring’s arrival than by highlighting an awesome Davison-designed product that will be springing off store shelves to help kids and parents cool off as the weather continues to heat up?

The Aviva Sports Splash-O-Meter, an innovative, inflatable toy that measures the size of a person’s splash on a scale of 1-10, made a huge wave on lilsugar.com, the global network known as “Mommy’s little helper.”

Lilsugar featured the Davison-designed Splash-O-Meter as part of a list of favorite water toys for kids, noting that with the innovative toy, “mom will never be accused of favoring one tot’s splash over another’s!”

The Splash-O-Meter is the perfect pool or lake companion and it can be found at Amazon.com, Sam’s Club and Sears, among many other retailers!

We are definitely soaking up the Splash-O-Meter’s great review, along with all this great spring weather, and we can’t wait to see what Davison-designed product is next to make a big splash in the marketplace!

Just as we predicted, one of our talented creationeers, Lucky, has not kept us “hanging.”  Today, we’ve got Lucky’s perspective on bringing some innovation into your closet!  From Lucky’s mind… to your desk! 

As consumers, we are cognizant of the design of certain objects and products:  cars, electronics, appliances and even food.  But, [there are] some things that we use in our daily lives that we would never give a second thought to the design of; because, they’re so commonplace, so utilitarian, that it seems they must only exist in one color or one shape.  For example, the clothes hanger. 

Sure, they range in material from wood, to wire and plastic; but, whenever we think of a hanger, we conjure up the same image of a triangle with a question mark at the top.  The design hasn’t changed much in the last 100+ years that the hanger has been around, which is why contemporary designers are looking at new ways to improve on an old solution and even solve a problem [that] we didn’t know we had.

The Paperclip Hanger by Japanese designer Jaehyung Hong takes the common material and construction of the wire coat hanger and the paperclip, and melds them into a multi-function clothes hanger.  Usually used to bind together sheets of paper, the Paperclip Hanger neatly holds pants, unmentionables, and smaller garments that would usually fall off traditional hangers, while functioning as a normal hanger.

Italian design company Almove specializes in products made from lightweight materials that fulfill a single need, while adhering to clean lines and essential forms.  For their contracting coat hanger, they’ve kept the question mark, but replaced the triangle with an accordion form.  This allows for the hanger to be easily packed in an overnight bag, suit case or even a briefcase.  It also prevents the user from having to insert the hanger from the bottom of the garment, allowing it to fit through the neck. 

Stretching out the neck of a garment to fit the hanger in the top is something we’re all guilty of and a big problem for those who don’t have the time to insert the hanger from the waist:  people who are impatient, retail workers and those in the garment industry.  A lot of time can be saved by being able to quickly insert a hanger.

This is why we have Pinch:  a simple solution to a problem we know existed, but [may have] never really cared to solve.  A mixture of injection-molded Polypropylene and Elastomer, the product functions by doing what its name tells you to, pinch. 

By performing this simple and intuitive gesture, it bends the arms down, allowing you to comfortably fit the hanger inside the garment, without damaging the fabric.  For someone who uses a lot of hangers, this can save a lot of time… and a lot of collars.  Let’s hope this one makes its way to market!

PINCH – Easier way of fixing clothes on a hanger from Jaineel shah on Vimeo.

Source: Yanko Design, Cool Hunting, Coroflot

Just as we were preparing to release tonight’s “Dare to Invent” webisode, we opened up the pages of a local publication and read all about it! 

Nestled in the pages of “The Horse Trader,” you can find Mr. Davison, our client, Joseph, (inventor of the Silicone Dessert Bar Pan), plus a brief article about our innovative method and some of our featured inventors!

The same article also appears online at the “San Diego NewsCape” and “Ingenious Ideas,” and even includes some “Dare to…” tips for prospective inventors:

“Dare to Take Action:  Do your research to see if there is already something similar on the market.

Dare to Share:  Share your idea with others. A nondisclosure or confidentiality agreement will protect you from having your idea stolen.

Dare to Evaluate:  Evaluate your idea honestly and think about how to market the product.

Dare to Ideate:  Shape your creation with sketches, illustrations and photos.

Dare to Leave a Paper Trail:  Use a notebook to write down all your ideas.”

Finally, the article encourages all readers to Dare to… Watch our innovative webisode series!  This week’s episode, the third in our series, features Joseph Springer and his Silicone Dessert Bar Pan.  It’s live NOW on YouTube or through a link at Davison.com!

Watch “Dare to Invent” now!

A typical client project is not licensed, sold in stores or profitable.

Mr. Davison, our Inventionland creationeers and one of our clients are back at it in tonight’s “Dare to Invent” webisode!  This week’s episode features Michigan inventor, Kay, and her Pugz Shoes! 

For our client, Kay, and her two Shelties, Autumn Angel and Rough Spot, taking a December trot in the snow, with her neighbor, Janice, and her golden retriever, was nothing close to walking in a winter wonderland.  Instead, their faithful friends would wind up with either cold, wet snowy paws or even salt-soaked paws, from treated roads and sidewalks.

“I needed something that would stay on and protect their paws… [Something to] keep their paws from getting dry and cracked,” Kay said.

For Kay, the logical solution was boots for her pups.  Follow along  as Kay and her Pugz Shoes take the journey though project inception, development, licensing and beyond! 

“I would advise [future inventors] to stay positive and do some research… Don’t get discouraged, it can happen,” said Kay.  “I’m a firm believer… nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Tonight’s episode is live right now!  Tune in on YouTube or through a link at Davison.com! 

After you watch, head on over to our Facebook page for details on how to win a pair of Pugz for your four-legged friend!

The Pugz Dare to Invent webisode is the second in our interactive 12-video series, which debuted February 9th and portrays Davison clients and their inventions.  Tune in March 8th for the third interactive Dare to Invent webisode! 

A typical client project is not licensed, sold in stores or profitable.