National Academy of Inventors, nominations from Duke 2025

The National Academy of Inventors (NAI)  is a member organization comprising U.S. and international universities; governmental agencies; and non-profit research institutes.

The NAI was founded to recognize and encourage inventors with U.S. patents, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and to create wider public understanding of how its members’ inventions benefit society.

Duke currently has over two dozen NAI Fellows and Senior Members, the two types of memberships. The NAI Fellows nominations are now open, due by July 31^st, 2025. (Senior Member nominations will occur October-December 2025.)

Timeline of Fellow nomination and selection process for the NAI

Duke will be evaluating potential nominees and coordinating the submissions through the Office for Translation & Commercialization in partnership with the Director of Research Communications.

If interested in participating, please reach out to Fedor Kossakovski at fdk@duke.edu by Monday, June 30^th, 2025.

Eligibility Criteria:

• Nominees should have made outstanding contributions to innovation in areas of such as patents and licensing, innovative discovery and technology, significant impact on society, and support and enhancement of innovation
• Nominees must be a named inventor on patent(s) issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. (The median patent count among current NAI Fellows is 20.)
• Self-nomination, team submissions and nominations submitted by relatives are not eligible
• More criteria here

Nomination Materials:

• An online form that summarizes career, commercialization, NAI service if any, service to innovation ecosystem.
• Nominee’s full CV or resume
• Letter of nomination (on letterhead, signed and scanned) from the nominator containing evidence of the nominee’s outstanding contribution to / achievements in innovation, describing the nominee’s work and why he or she should be elected as a NAI Fellow. No more than two (2) pages.
• Full List of U.S. patents
• Optional: Additional documents such as nominee’s biography or letter of support (MAX: 3)
• More materials info here

NOTE: There are $400 annual or $4,000 lifetime dues associated with being an NAI Fellow that is the responsibility of the individual Fellow to pay. (Duke pays a separate institutional membership fee.)

You can read more info about NAI on the website: https://academyofinventors.org/about-the-nai-fellows-program/

If interested in participating, please reach out to Fedor Kossakovski at fdk@duke.edu by Monday, June 30^th, 2025.