Minga
From the Quechua mink'a: voluntary community work for a shared purpose, from public works to a neighbour's harvest. It is still practised in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Paraguay.
Invention from our region, built together and carried to market.
Submit an idea or a prototype at no cost. We help you protect it, build it with others and bring it to the investors and markets that can carry it worldwide.
A modern city at the foot of the AndesAI-generated image
A modern city at the foot of the AndesMountains, coast and city: a region of buildersA young team reviews a prototype togetherInventor AI: helping reviewers, never replacing themA university campus, where ideas beginBridges that connect a regionA Caribbean inventor tests a solar water purifierFig. 1 · An invention takes shapeAI-generated imageAdelante illustrationSheet 1 of 15 · OverviewADL-2026-001
A virtual invention house for a whole region.
Adelante is a virtual invention house for young inventors in the 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and across their diaspora. Submit an idea or a prototype at no cost. We help you protect it, build and test it with others, and meet the investors who can take it to markets worldwide.
Fee to inventorNone
Countries33 + diaspora
LanguagesES · PT · FR · EN
Stages8, idea to market
OwnershipStays with you
Protection routesCAN · PROSUR · PCT
We earnOnly after you do
StatusIn preparation · founding partners invited
Sheet 2 of 15 · Our wayADL-2026-002
Our way: collective ingenuity.
Across Latin America and the Caribbean, communities have long built together. Neighbours join forces to raise a house, bring in a harvest or open a road, and the work becomes a celebration. Adelante turns that same spirit to invention: no one invents alone, and what we build together, we own together.
Mutirão
From the Tupi-Guarani mutyrõ, meaning joint or collective work: self-organised effort in which a community builds what it needs, together.
Konbit
The Haitian Creole word for cooperation: a traditional communal work group that farms, builds and organises together, often to the rhythm of music.
Four ways we advance
- 01Build together
Minga Labs gather inventors, students, technicians and neighbours to build and test prototypes side by side.
- 02Own together
Invention cooperatives let inventors share tools, costs and ownership under clear, written rules.
- 03Bridge university and industry
We connect laboratories and students with the firms and cooperatives that can manufacture what they invent.
- 04Hecho aquí: made here
The region's food, minerals and forests should become finished products at home, so that the value and the jobs stay here.
No one invents alone.
SourcesMinka (communal work) · ArchDaily: What is a mutirão? · Konbit
Sheet 3 of 15 · Who we areADL-2026-003
Who we are and what we do.
Adelante brings together inventors' advocates, patent professionals, engineers, cooperatives, investors and diaspora mentors who share one conviction: the region's next industries will be built by its own inventors.
Who we are
We are builders, not promoters. Adelante was launched in 2026 as the Latin American and Caribbean member of the Inventors Unleashed family of sister organisations. It is coordinated for now from Long Beach, California, while founding partners are invited across the region. Adelante exists because talent is spread evenly across Latin America and the Caribbean while access to patents, workshops and capital is not. Our work is to close that gap, one inventor, one community and one country at a time, and to earn nothing until the inventors we serve succeed.
What we do
- DiscoverWe find inventors and creators in all 33 countries and across the diaspora, online, by WhatsApp and through local hubs, universities and cooperatives.
- ProtectWe guide every invention to the right protection route and help cover official filing fees.
- BuildWe connect inventors with workshops, universities and engineers, and bring people together in Minga Labs to build, test and certify prototypes.
- ConnectWe introduce inventions to investors, manufacturers and first buyers, in the region and worldwide.
- CelebrateWe honour the inventors moving their countries forward through the Premio Adelante and the Creadores del Año.
Films
Film coming soon
Film coming soon
Film coming soon
Sheet 4 of 15 · From the Stone Age to AIADL-2026-004
From the Stone Age to artificial intelligence, invention leads the way.
Invention is how humankind has survived, adapted and prospered: from the first stone tools, made more than three million years ago, to the artificial intelligence of today. Latin America and the Caribbean have shaped that story, from maize and the potato to rubber, zero and instant payments. With the right support and networks, the region's young inventors can help lead the next chapter.
Invention is how nations rise.
- An idea
- A prototype
- A factory
- Jobs and skills
- A stronger country
- Progress for humankind
One invention, carried to market, becomes a company or a cooperative. It creates jobs and skills. Jobs build stronger countries, and stronger countries move all of humankind forward.
The path of human progress
- About 3.3 million years agoThe first stone tools
The oldest known tools were shaped from stone. Every invention since, in every region, stands on that first step.
- About 1 million years agoMastering fire
Controlling fire gave our ancestors warmth, light, cooked food and protection.
- About 9,000 years agoMaize
Farmers in the Balsas River valley of south-central Mexico began turning a wild grass, teosinte, into maize, today one of the world's most important crops.
Born in our region - 7,000 to 10,000 years agoThe potato
Farmers around Lake Titicaca, in today's southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia, domesticated the potato, now a staple food on every continent.
Born in our region - By 1600 BCEProcessed rubber
Mesoamerican peoples mixed latex with the juice of a morning-glory vine to make bouncing balls and bindings, more than 3,000 years before vulcanised rubber was invented.
Born in our region - By the 3rd century CEA symbol for zero
Maya inscriptions use a sign for zero in a place-value count, one of the few times in history that the idea of zero was developed.
Born in our region - 15th centuryThe Andean road network
The Qhapaq Ñan once linked some 30,000 km of roads across the Andes. It is now a World Heritage site shared by six countries.
Born in our region - 1440sThe printing press
Books could be copied quickly, and knowledge spread faster than ever before.
- 18th and 19th centuriesSteam and electricity
Engines and electric power transformed how people live, work and travel.
- 1891 to 1892Fingerprint identification
Argentina's police set up the country's fingerprint files in 1891, and in 1892 Argentina recorded the first criminal conviction based on fingerprint evidence.
Born in our region - 1980sA vaccine against meningitis B
Cuba's Finlay Institute developed VA-MENGOC-BC, reported as the world's first effective vaccine against serogroup B meningococcus.
Born in our region - 1990sThe internet
Computers around the world connected, and information became available to billions.
- 2020Instant payments for everyone
Brazil's central bank launched Pix. By 2024, more than 150 million people were using it to pay and be paid in seconds.
Born in our region - TodayArtificial intelligence
Machines that learn now assist discovery, from medicine to climate research.
- NextThe region's inventors
With the right support and networks, Latin America and the Caribbean can help lead what comes next. Adelante exists to build that support.
Scroll to follow the path →
SourcesMaize (Smithsonian, via CDFA) · Potato · MIT News: Mesoamerican rubber · Maya numerals · UNESCO: Qhapaq Ñan · JSTOR Daily: Fingerprints and crime · MEDICC Review: VA-MENGOC-BC · Pix
Ideas are the region's most renewable resource.
A region of creators
With the commitment of governments, civil society and every woman and man of Latin America and the Caribbean, and with strong support networks behind them, the region can take a leading role in the next age of invention. We are a region of creators and inventors.
- Governments
Policies, patent offices and public purchasing that back local invention.
- Civil society
Schools, universities, cooperatives, associations and media that celebrate the people who build.
- Every woman and man of the region
Ideas, talent and the courage to try, in every country, on every island and across the diaspora.
- Strong support networks
Investors, mentors, manufacturers and partners who carry inventions to market.
Sheet 5 of 15 · Inventions UnleashedADL-2026-005
Inventions Unleashed.
Ten bold ideas to free the region's inventive power, from the village workshop to the global market. Two of them come straight from our way of working together. Each one is designed to be piloted, measured and scaled across Latin America and the Caribbean.
- New ideaThe Invention Passport
One secure digital record for every inventor: dated submission, reviews, protection status and milestones. It travels with them across borders and opens doors with investors.
- New ideaMobile invention labs
Shipping containers fitted with 3D printers, small machine tools and solar power, touring towns, rural areas and islands so that no idea is lost for lack of a workshop.
- New idea33 Challenges
Each year, every participating country sets one national challenge, in water, energy, food or health, and invites its inventors to solve it, with a first buyer ready.
- New ideaAdopt a Patent
Members of the diaspora sponsor the official filing fees of one invention from their country of origin, and follow its progress from patent to market.
- New ideaThe Pay It Forward Trust
A share of every success fee goes into a trust that funds the next cohort, so each inventor who succeeds lifts the ones who follow.
- New ideaThe Adelante Invention Index
An annual public index of patents, prototypes, investment and support for inventors in each country, so that progress is measured and celebrated.
- New ideaInventor AI on WhatsApp
A multilingual assistant that answers inventors' first questions, explains protection in plain language and helps them prepare a strong submission, all from a basic phone.
- New ideaTraditional knowledge, protected
A registry, built with Indigenous, Afro-descendant and rural communities and with their consent, that helps protect traditional knowledge and ensures communities share in the value it creates.
- Our wayMinga Labs
Collective prototyping weekends hosted by a university or hub. Inventors, students, technicians and neighbours spend two days building and testing a prototype together, and every contributor is credited.
- Our wayInvention cooperatives
Inventors who work in the same field pool tools, workshop time and filing costs, and share ownership and income under transparent cooperative rules, agreed in writing from the start.
Sheet 6 of 15 · CommitmentsADL-2026-006
Our claims, written the way patents are.
A patent ends with claims: precise statements of exactly what is protected. These are the commitments every inventor can hold us to.
- Submitting is free.No evaluation fees, no marketing packages and no upfront charges of any kind.
- We earn only after you do.A modest share of a licence or of a company you build, disclosed and agreed in writing before any deal is signed.
- Your invention stays yours.If we cannot help it reach the market, nothing changes hands and you are free to pursue any other route.
- Private by default.Nothing is shown to an investor or published without your explicit consent.
- Every answer is honest and written.Including "not yet", always with the next step you can take on your own.
- Our results are public.Each year we publish how many inventions were accepted, protected, funded and brought to market.
Sheet 7 of 15 · The routeADL-2026-007
Eight stages from idea to market.
Each invention moves at its own pace. Some will license to a manufacturer after stage five; others will grow into companies or cooperatives. Every stage has a safeguard for the inventor.
Stage 01
Submit
Send your idea, sketch, video or prototype online, on a basic phone connection or through WhatsApp.
SafeguardA dated, private record of your submission.
Stage 02
Evaluate
Independent reviewers assess novelty, feasibility and market need, and write up their findings for you.
SafeguardReviewers declare any conflict of interest.
Stage 03
Protect
Prior-art guidance, referral to pro bono patent help, and support with official filing fees.
SafeguardWe take no ownership at this stage.
Stage 04
Build
Prototype support through Minga Labs, maker spaces, universities and engineering mentors near you.
SafeguardFunding released by milestone, not in one lump.
Stage 05
Validate
Real users test it. We help with pricing, standards and certification for your target markets.
SafeguardEvidence filed in your own data room.
Stage 06
Connect
Curated introductions to angels, funds, manufacturers, cooperatives and diaspora investors, plus showcase days.
SafeguardInvestors sign confidentiality terms first.
Stage 07
Commercialise
License it, start a company or a cooperative, or sign a supply agreement with a buyer: the route that fits.
SafeguardIndependent legal review of every contract.
Stage 08
Go global
Export readiness, distribution partners and online channels to reach buyers worldwide.
SafeguardLifelong access to the alumni network.
Sheet 8 of 15 · Who it servesADL-2026-008
Two sides of one table.
For inventors and creators
Talent is spread evenly across Latin America and the Caribbean. Access to patents, workshops and capital is not. That gap is what we close.
- Who can apply
- Inventors aged 16 to 35 (with a parent's consent under 18), working alone, in teams of up to five or as a cooperative.
- Where from
- Any of the 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, or the region's diaspora anywhere in the world.
- Stage
- From a first sketch to a working prototype already in use.
- Sectors
Keep the "how" private for now. In your first submission, describe the problem, who would buy the solution and what it does. Do not include the technical details of how it works until we have discussed protection with you.
Submit your inventionFor investors and partners
A screened pipeline of inventions from Latin America and the Caribbean, each with the evidence investors look for before they commit.
- What you see
- Independent technical review, patent status and filing route, prototype evidence and market validation, organised in a data room.
- Who joins
- Angel investors, funds and development finance institutions, manufacturers seeking licences, cooperatives, diaspora investors and foundations.
- Ways to engage
- Our role
- Adelante makes introductions. It does not hold investor funds, sell securities or give investment advice. Every investment is made directly between the parties under applicable law.
Sheet 9 of 15 · ProtectionADL-2026-009
Protecting an invention in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Every country in the region has its own patent office, and several cooperate through shared rules and shared examination work. Choosing the right route early saves inventors money and time. We guide each inventor to the route that fits their market, and an independent professional advises on every filing.
| Route | Coverage | How it works | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|
| National patent offices | Every country in the region | A separate application with each national office, prepared with independent local agents. | Inventions aimed first at one home market |
| Andean Community (Decision 486) | Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru | A common industrial property regime: the four countries apply shared rules, while filings are still made with each national office. | Planning protection across the Andean markets |
| PROSUR | Cooperation among South American patent offices | Offices share examination work, which can help applications move faster. | Inventions filed in several South American countries |
| Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) | Member countries in the region and worldwide | One international application that preserves the right to file in many countries later. | Inventions with export or licensing potential abroad |
| WIPO Inventor Assistance Program | Countries where the programme operates | Eligible inventors are referred to volunteer patent attorneys who work pro bono. | Inventors with limited means |
SourcesFIU Law Library: International IP organizations · Mondaq: Decision 486 of the Andean Community · World IP Review: PROSUR pilot PPH
The Patent Fee Fund
Official filing fees are the barrier most young inventors cannot cross, even when legal help is free. The Patent Fee Fund, financed by sponsors, will cover official fees for selected inventions. Sponsors can fund a single filing, a cooperative's filings or an entire cohort.
Sheet 10 of 15 · The PrizeADL-2026-010
The Premio Adelante.
Each year, every participating country names its Inventor of the Year: the person, team or cooperative whose invention is doing most to move the country forward. The national winners then meet at a regional final, hosted each year by a different country, where the Premio Adelante is presented.
Stage oneNational rounds
Run with a partner university or innovation hub in each country, with a local jury.
Stage twoNational Inventors of the Year
One winner per country, celebrated at home and supported for a full year.
FinalThe regional Premio Adelante
Chosen from the national winners by a jury drawn from across the region and presented at the regional final.
Six categories
- Grand PrizeThe invention doing most to move its country and the region forward.
- Young InventorFor inventors aged 16 to 21.
- Women in InventionHonouring women who build, and the girls who will follow them.
- Diaspora InventorAn invention built for the region's markets or produced in the region.
- Hecho aquí · Made hereThe region's food, minerals or forest products turned into finished goods at home.
- People's ChoiceDecided by public vote.
The Impact Score
The Prize rewards real impact, not only a promising idea. Every entry is scored on five published criteria.
- Jobs created and people served30%
- Local materials and local manufacturing20%
- Ability to scale across borders20%
- Protection secured15%
- Integrity, collaboration and willingness to mentor15%
Proposed weighting, to be finalised with the founding jury.
$50,000Regional winner
The Premio Adelante, presented at the regional final.
$10,000Each category winner
Six categories, decided at the regional final.
$2,500Each national winner
Plus full support through every stage of the programme.
More than a cheque
Multi-country patent filing paidPrototyping or manufacturing grantFront row at the investor showcaseA year of mentoringA documentary featureA trophy handmade by artisans of the regionA year as national ambassador
No entry fee, ever. An independent jury drawn from Mexico and Central America, the Caribbean, the Andean countries, Brazil and the Southern Cone declares any conflict of interest. Cash awards are paid partly on award and partly against milestones, so each prize builds a business. Award amounts are targets and will be confirmed as founding sponsors join.
NowFounding sponsors and national partners invited
2027Founding showcase of the first cohort
2028First full Premio Adelante and Creadores del Año final
Every year afterHost country rotates across the region
Sheet 11 of 15 · Crown the CreatorsADL-2026-011
What should a nation crown?
Pageants command sponsors, prime-time television and a nation's attention, and few regions follow them with more passion than ours. A crown tells the next generation what its country values. For the next decade, we propose that those resources crown the young people who build.
Creadores del Año: Miss and Mister Creator of the Year
Keep everything that makes a pageant work: national pride, regional rounds, music, glamour, a live televised final and a crown. Change what is judged.
- Contestants aged 18 to 35 present an invention, a business or a creative work that solves a real problem.
- Each country crowns a Miss Creator and a Mister Creator; national winners go on to the regional final of the Premio Adelante.
- Engineers, investors, cooperative leaders and entrepreneurs judge alongside a public vote, using the Impact Score.
- The prize is a crown with real weight: seed funding, paid patent fees, a year of mentoring and a year as national ambassador visiting schools.
The Youth Enterprise Decade
We invite governments, sponsors, broadcasters and pageant organisers to redirect the resources they give to pageants into creator competitions for ten years. Ten years is enough to change what a generation dreams about.
This is not a campaign against contestants. Many are accomplished, and some pageants fund scholarships and good causes. Pageant organisers know how to produce a show, raise sponsorship and fill a stadium, which is exactly what a creator gala needs. We invite them to lead this change with us.
Support the pledgeOn the Adelante channel
A YouTube channel with new episodes every week, in Spanish and Portuguese with subtitles. Verified inventions only: every featured invention is reviewed by an engineer before it airs.
- Inventores AdelanteProfiles of the region's inventors and what they need next.
- Crown the CreatorsThe case for the Creadores del Año, Miss and Mister Creator of the Year.
- Patent in 60 SecondsPlain-language lessons on protecting an idea.
- Hecho aquíHow the region's coffee, cacao, minerals and timber can become finished products at home, and who keeps the value.
- Minga on cameraA Minga Lab weekend from the first sketch to a working prototype.
- The Road to the PremioFollowing each year's cohort to the regional final.
- Investor RoomInvestors explain, in their own words, what they look for.
- Out of Poverty for GoodHow nations once among the poorest in the world built their industries.
Channel launching soon.
Sheet 12 of 15 · Across the regionADL-2026-012
Built to reach all 33 countries.
Adelante works through institutions that already exist, from universities and innovation hubs to cooperatives and patent offices, so every country and every island can take part without waiting for new buildings.
Adelante Hubs
One partner university, innovation hub or maker space in each country hosts intake days, Minga Labs and the national round of the Prize.
Patent offices
Working with national offices, the Andean Community, PROSUR and WIPO's Inventor Assistance Program to lower costs and speed up referrals.
The First Buyer pledge
Governments and large companies each agree to pilot one Adelante invention a year. A first customer is often what convinces investors.
Adelante Invents Week
Open days, school challenges, Minga Labs and investor showcases in every participating country, in the week leading up to the regional final.
The Virtual Invention Warehouse
A public online gallery of protected inventions from the region, shown with their inventors' consent, where investors and buyers can browse.
Open to everyone
Submission by WhatsApp and SMS, a mobile app that works offline, and community radio partners for rural areas and islands where data is expensive.
Adelante is designed to support goals the region's governments have already set: the Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean (eLAC2026), adopted in November 2024 at the ninth ministerial conference organised by ECLAC and the Government of Chile; the Andean Community's common industrial property regime (Decision 486); and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Sheet 13 of 15 · StructureADL-2026-013
One mission, two entities.
The free programme and the commercial work are kept separate, so inventors are served first and every deal stays transparent.
Adelante Foundation
- Runs the free inventor programme, evaluations, Minga Labs and mentoring
- Manages the Patent Fee Fund
- Funded by grants, sponsors and donors
Adelante Ventures
- Handles licensing, company and cooperative formation, and investor introductions
- Earns disclosed success shares only after deals close
- Reinvests part of its returns in the Foundation's programme
Both entities are being established.
Sheet 14 of 15 · Sister organisationsADL-2026-014
One family of sister organisations, each with its own way.
Adelante belongs to the Inventors Unleashed family. Each member is a separate organisation rooted in its own region, with its own languages, its own way of thinking and its own priorities. All of them share the same inventor-first model: free submission, ownership that stays with the inventor, and earnings only after success.
- Kuumba · Africa InventionsSister organisation
- Adelante · Inventors Unleashed Latin America & CaribbeanThis site
- Aage · Inventors Unleashed South AsiaSister organisation
- Maju · Inventors Unleashed Southeast AsiaSister organisation
- Alga · Inventors Unleashed Central Asia & CaucasusSister organisation
- Vaka · Inventors Unleashed Pacific IslandsSister organisation
Where every invention begins
Every invention began with a question.
How do we solve a problem that keeps coming back in our lives or in our communities? How do we improve a solution that exists but still falls short? Most of history's great inventions started there.
- 01Ask
What problem could you solve today? Which existing invention or solution could you make better, cheaper, safer or easier to use?
- 02Write it down
Put the problem and your idea on paper, with a sketch if you can. Date it and keep it. A written idea can be tested, improved and protected.
- 03Contact us
When you think you have the solution, or even part of it, submit it. We will help you with the rest.
Questions to start your notebook
- What wastes time, money or energy in your home, farm, school or business every week?
- What tool or service almost works, but fails the people who need it most?
- What problem do people around you simply accept because no one has fixed it?
Our responsibility
No one will build our future for us.
No one else will solve our problems, transform our raw materials, or invent and create in our place. It is time to stop waiting for others and to take action today, together.
- Solve a problem.
- Propose a solution.
- Build what comes next.
Every problem we solve brings us closer to well-being and a better future for the generations that follow.
Invention made life as we know it possible.
Will you take the lead and create something, or remain a passenger on the locomotive of progress?
No idea or prototype is too small. Submit what you have in mind today: ideas once dismissed as insignificant have changed the world.
Sheet 15 of 15 · ApplyADL-2026-015
Start here.
Inventors, tell us about your idea. Investors and partners, tell us how you would like to take part. We reply to every message.
Adelante is in preparation. Submissions will open formally once founding partners are confirmed in the region; you can register now through the forms below, and we will keep you informed of every step.
Every idea is welcomeNo idea or prototype is too small. Submit what you have in mind today: ideas once dismissed as insignificant have changed the world.
Submission received.
Thank you. A reviewer will reply within ten working days with a written first assessment and the next step.
Interest registered.
Thank you. We will be in touch about the founding cohort and the first showcase.
Nomination received.
Thank you. We will contact the nominee and keep you informed.
Questions inventors ask.
Is it really free?
Yes. Submitting, evaluation, mentoring and introductions cost the inventor nothing. Adelante is funded by sponsors and grants, and earns only a disclosed share of a licence or company after a deal is made.
Who owns my invention?
You do. Submitting gives us no rights to it. Any share we receive later is agreed with you in writing before a deal is signed, and you can seek independent advice first.
Do I need a patent before applying?
No. Most inventors apply before filing anything. We help you decide whether and where to file, and in what order, so you do not lose your rights by revealing too much too early.
I live outside Latin America and the Caribbean. Can I apply?
Yes. Inventors of the region's diaspora are welcome, especially when the invention can serve or be produced in the region's markets.
How are investors involved?
Investors register their interests and, after signing confidentiality terms, see inventions whose inventors have agreed to be introduced. Investments, licences and contracts are made directly between the parties.
What if my invention is not accepted?
You receive a written explanation and practical next steps. You can improve the invention and submit again at any time.
Can a team or a cooperative apply together?
Yes. Teams of up to five and existing cooperatives are welcome. We ask every team to agree in writing, from the start, how ownership and income will be shared, and we can provide a simple template.
When will Adelante open, and in which languages?
Adelante is in preparation. Submissions open formally once founding partners are confirmed; you can register now through the forms on this page. You may write to us in Spanish, Portuguese, French or English.