The Story Behind Inventrix

In early 2025, I found myself at an NSF I-Corps workshop surrounded by brilliant scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs. Over coffee breaks and late-day discussions, a common frustration kept surfacing: why does innovation still get measured almost entirely by academic bean-counting — publications and grants — while so much of the real impact happens outside those walls?

Someone half-jokingly said, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have an Innovation Index?”That idea stuck with me. On my flight home — or rather, my attempted flight home — United Airlines cancelled. Stuck in airport delays and endless rebooking lines, I suddenly had hours to think. Between terminal gates and boarding calls, the vision took shape: a living, breathing index that unifies signals from research, code, and ventures to tell a fuller story of what builders create.

Inventrix is the result of that moment — a platform that recognizes the multi-dimensional impact of innovators and gives them the credit they deserve. Because innovation isn’t just about papers and patents — it’s about ideas brought to life, communities changed, and futures built.