Answer: New research finds that surroundings matter more than genes. 

Here are excerpts from the Economist article about this ground-breaking research "Who Becomes an Inventor?":

• Inventors come from all walks of life:

"ARE inventors born or bred? Using tax, patent and academic records, a new study by a quintet of economists follows the lives of 1m American inventors in exceptional detail, including their parental circumstances, the neighbourhoods they grew up in and the colleges they attended. It shows that there are vast differences in the backgrounds of inventors measured by income, race and gender."

• Exposure to innovation is what really matters:

"But the authors marshal strong evidence for a different mechanism: early exposure to innovation, and to inventors themselves, seems to matter a great deal. Children with patent-holding parents are disproportionately likely to become inventors too. Moreover, children of patent-holding parents are also much more likely to hold patents in the same niches as their fathers, which suggests that inventiveness is not merely genetic. Even if inventive abilities could be transmitted hereditarily, they are unlikely to convey special powers in, say, building amplifiers as opposed to modulators. Although parents and inherited privilege matter significantly, neighbourhoods also seem to have a large impact on future invention success: children who grew up in Silicon Valley, for example, are especially likely to develop computer technologies—even if they eventually move away.

• A college high on the list of creating inventors demonstrates the importance of environment: 

The college which produces the fourth-highest share of inventors in the data set is little-known Kettering University in Flint, Michigan—edging out brand-name institutions like Stanford and Carnegie Mellon. This despite the fact that their students enter with much lower SAT scores and parental wealth. Robert McMahan, Kettering’s president, who himself holds five patents, credits the university’s unique history (until 1982 it was part of General Motors and retains deep ties with the car industry) and its requirement that students repeatedly alternate between classrooms and job rotations.

• Argues for more mentorship to nurture the "missing Einsteins:" 

The best policies to spur innovation, it seems, may have as much to do with mentorship as money.

Interested in more on this topic: 

•  “Who Becomes an Inventor?” Alex Bell, Raj Chetty, Xavier Jaravel, Neviana Petkova and John Van Reenem. Equality of Opportunity Project. December 4th, 2017.
• Why "lost Einsteins" are hurting our economy (Marketplace.org)

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Here are the ready-to-use slides for your classroom. 

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Questions:

• Have you ever met an inventor? If so, describe the experience and what they invented. 
• What is an invention that you use in your daily life that you marvel at how amazing it is?
• Have you ever thought about inventing something? Explain. 
•  What do you think are the personal traits that inventors have? 

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Be sure to check out the newest NGPF Case Study: Who Will Pitch It To Win It?  

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.