Giving Compass' Take:

• Children who could not become innovators due to their socioeconomic status or gender and were not able to make the same networks as others are known as "Lost Einsteins."

• What kind of programs in place to help address social mobility within this population of students? 

• Read about why disrupting opportunity gaps will hinge on networks. 

Innovation is widely viewed as the engine of economic growth.

To maximize innovation and growth, all of our brightest youth should have the opportunity to become inventors. But a study we recently conducted, jointly with Neviana Petkova of the U.S. Treasury, paints a very different picture. We found that a child’s potential for future innovation seems to have as much to do with the circumstances of his or her family background as it does with his or her talent.

We concluded that there are many “Lost Einsteins” in America — children who had the ability to innovate, but whose socioeconomic class or gender greatly reduced their ability to tap into the social networks and resources necessary to become inventors. Our analysis sheds light on how increasing these young people’s exposure to innovators may be an important way to reduce these disparities and increase the number of inventors.

Read the full article about America's "lost Einsteins" at The Conversation