Inventors Spotlight

About the Inventor’s Spotlight

At the Inventor’s Spotlight this year, 84 booths and 11 nationally recognized judges awarded special merit to the following 5 categories... Best New Product, Most Retail-Ready, Most Eco-Friendly, Best Business Potential, and Best for Simplicity & Manufacturability. Held at the Las Vegas Convention Center from May 4-6 during the National Hardware Show, the Inventor's Spotlight was for inventors with products bringing new, unique and original solutions to today's homeowner. This year, the UIA was dedicated to getting inventors taken seriously by major industry players, and thus focused the program to reward innovation and get inventors ready for retail. Congratulations to all the winners!

Best New Product
How genuinely unique and intelligent is it? Does it function so much better than competition and/or substitutes?
Alex Yap Wang Han
Adjustable Open-Ended Wrench
"I'm so happy to have won the Best New Product Award at the NHS this year. NHS and UIA have done a great job for inventors, especially those who had the opportunity to present their invention at the Inventor's Spotlight. This was a great stage for inventors’ to present their inventions. My hope for the future is that Inventor's Spotlight becomes the biggest and most important invention event in the world."

Most Retail-Ready
Did the pitch explain what it is, how it works, and why there is a need for it? Is the booth compelling? Is the prototype retail-ready?
Susan McKnight
ClimbUp® Insect Interceptor (a bed bug monitor)
"Product exposure at the National Hardware Show Inventor's Spotlight was phenomenal. After months of having letters, emails, and pleas for appointments with retailers ignored, I had buyers from those same retailers standing at my Inventor's Spotlight booth telling me what a great and timely product idea I had."

Most Eco-Friendly
Does its manufacture and/or use in the market help or harm the environment?
Haion Won
Strainee-Disposable Green Strainer made from corn starch
"The quality of the inventions at the Inventor's Spotlight are super excellent and ready to sell. They solved everyday problems. Actually I bought some of them at the show. I am just lucky to have the award. My neighboring inventors are very friendly and helpful. I made a lot of good friends at the Inventor's Spotlight. I also met many good potential industrial customers during the show. The show was fruitful and awesome."

Best Business Potential
Could this product sell well (to a lot of people who actually require this solution) and at a 1/5 cost-to-retail margin or more?
Rick Iverson
Caulk Saver
"This was our first year at any show, for us, and it was so gratifying and overwhelming to see so many booths, exhibitors, and Professionalism throughout the whole show. You may remember this saying about THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (Ringling Brothers Circus) Well that is no longer true. The National Hardware Show, North American Retail Hardware Association and United Inventors Association are now THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH. We here at Caulk Savers, LLC, appreciate everything that these three combined associations have done for all the exhibitors and visitors of this great get together. We can't speak for everyone at the show but I can only imagine that they are so appreciative of what this show does for their companies’ morale and company success."

Best for Simplicity/Manufacturability
Is it an elegant, simple solution that would be easy to make, or does it suffer from complexity inherent to the design?
New Way Concepts, LLC
One-Step Caulk
"This was our first year attending the NHS and we found that the Inventor's Spotlight was an excellent way to showcase our product. The response we received was amazing, giving us both national and international exposure! The classes and members of the UIA provided invaluable information and support. We look forward to continued education as a new member of the UIA and will definitely put the NHS on our agenda for next year!"

Special Thanks to all Inventors Spotlight Judges
We want to give a special thanks to all invention-industry professionals for taking part in the judging at this year's Inventors Spotlight. Thank you for volunteering your time to help encourage inventors to take never-before-seen and innovative approaches in introducing their products to today's modern home-buyer.

Thanks again for making the show such a wonderful success!!