The United States is home to some of the world's best known inventors: Bill Gates of Microsoft, Steve Jobs of Apple, and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook to name a few. Each of them came up with an idea that nobody had thought of, then registered their ideas via a patent, and now their inventions have truly changed the world.
These famous Americans now have some competition from some of over 90,000 Saudi students studying in the United States, who are busy coming up with hundreds of inventions a year.
The Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission in Washington D.C., overseas all aspects of Saudi students in the United States. They do so by ensuring they have access to people and organizations than can help them in any way they can. Once it become clear lots of students from the Kingdom had original ideas that could be turned into a possible business or unique products, the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission engaged a law firm — Oblon — to help guide the students through the legal process in the United States.
The lawyer who received the first call to help, Brad Lytle, is one of the top patent lawyers in the United States. Speaking to Saudi Gazette he said: “I have been involved in filing patents for the past 25 years, and I have worked with some of the best people in the world, with some of the most original ideas out there. When I got this call about helping Saudi students in the US I thought, ‘Boy this is odd. Our bread and butter isn't with students, it's more with businesses. I almost was going to dismiss the request. But boy was I proved wrong,”
Over 200 patents later, some of the inventions which have been registered include capturing wind currents from car movements and using them to generate electricity to illuminate country roads, a computer program to assist the visually impaired in navigation, and an invention on repairing wings of birds.
Albara Al-Othman, currently studying at South Dakota State University is the inventor of the wing repair for birds. “We all need to make the world a better place. Seeing falcons growing up at home in Taif made me realize that I wanted to help in conservation and preservation. Now that I have my own patent, it's just an amazing feeling. It shows you that if an idea is real, you can impact human life,” he told Saudi Gazette.
His sentiments are certainly felt by his lawyer — Lytle, who helped Al-Othman and others make their dream inventions come true. A former engineer, Lytle applies his extraordinary depth and breadth of technical expertise to advise students on a wide range of innovations.
Another student who got her own patent is Reem Al-Attas, from Makkal. Al-Attas, invented a bicycle helmet with an adaptive light notification. In an interview with the Saudi Gazette from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut she said: “Being able to come up with an idea that can help people, and get a patent for it, means I can now start my own business. When Americans see my helmet and then know I am from Saudi Arabia, and I invented something, they can't quite believe it.”
These success stories of patents being filed by students from the Kingdom studying in the United States are a real inspiration for Lytle. To him it represents the spirit of entrepreneurship. “Enthusiasm levels are off the charts. There's so much entrepreneurship that hasn't yet be satisfied. There is no idea that's too big for them. By not discriminating on the idea in advance, the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission hasn't restricted them to anything.”
That is certainly something the student's appreciate. “Thanks to the help I have received I am now helping others. I dreamed big from a young age, and turned my dream into something real. Conservation,”Al-Othman said. Reem Al-Attas agrees: “I am so grateful, as I always knew I could create something, but having a team to help me, made my idea a reality.”
