The Invention Index is one several public awareness activities conducted by the Lemelson-MIT Program, a national educational initiative celebrating American invention and innovation. The survey was conducted by telephone in November, 1997.
Percentages reflect the proportions of all respondents voting on each invention individually.
Respondents were not asked to rank items against each other. However, respondents disagreed on the topic of government-sponsored inventors profiting from their inventions. Invention Index survey participants said they would pay more taxes for a cancer cure. Clearly, the dream is alive, and people are willing to pay for it. Similar response from women and men on fetal tissue research Men and women agreed equally on the importance of a cure for cancer, with 87 percent of both sexes supporting a tax increase for a breakthrough.