Maker Ed Competitors

The National Inventors Hall of Fame® (NIHF) is a dynamic nonprofit organization offering employees, interns and volunteers the opportunity to create a more innovative future. Our mission is recognizing inventors and invention, promoting creativity and advancing the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship. We honor the world’s greatest inventors through the NIHF Museum and Induction events, reward emerging inventors through the Collegiate Inventors Competition®, and empower and inspire the next generation of innovators through education programs including Camp Invention®. Since 1973 we have encouraged more than two million people to explore, create and innovate. NIHF’s entrepreneurial culture rewards creativity and ambition. We also understand the value and importance, both professionally and personally, of providing our employees with a comprehensive benefits package, including health benefits, retirement savings, professional development opportunities and more.

In 2003, CU student Nathan Seidle blew a power supply in his dorm room and found he could only order replacement parts in bulk. Since then, he has been on a mission to make electronics and supporting documentation available to individuals everywhere. Since the beginning, SparkFun has been committed to sustainably helping our world explore the edges of technology and achieve electronics literacy from our headquarters in Boulder, Colorado. No matter your vision, SparkFun's products and resources are designed to make the world of electronics more accessible. In addition to more than 2,000 open-source components and widgets, SparkFun offers online tutorials and training designed to help people use technology to solve problems, create products, and get creative. We're here to help you start something!

littleBits, powered by Sphero, inspires learners of all ages with electronic blocks, “Bits”, that magnetically snap together to turn ideas into inventions! Using hardware, software, and content, littleBits is transforming the way kids learn so they can grow up to be tomorrow’s changemakers -- no matter their age, gender, race, nationality, or ability. Almost 40 percent of the kids using littleBits kits are girls, which is four times the industry average. littleBits was founded in September 2011 by Ayah Bdeir, an engineer and interactive artist. An alumna of the MIT Media Lab, Ayah’s TED talk: “Building Blocks that Blink, Beep and Teach” about littleBits has garnered more than one million views. littleBits, itself, has won more than 150 awards in tech, education, and toys -- including The Toy Association’s 2018 Creative Toy of the Year, Common Sense Education’s “2018 Top Pick for Learning,” CNN’s “Top 10 Startups to Watch,” and one of CNBC’s “Next List.” A STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art and Math) leader at home and in the classroom, littleBits has sold millions of kits in over 70 countries.