Why haven’t moms invented that?

Necessity, so the saying goes, is the mother of invention.

But who knows more about necessity than the mother of an 18-month-old? And who better to give birth to an invention than, well, a mother?

“We’re multitaskers, so we think of ways to improve things,” said young mother Jennifer Taylor. “I can’t think of how many times I’ve had my hands full and said, ‘Why haven’t they invented that?’”

She was among 130 women — with a few men mixed in — who gathered Saturday for a seminar at the El Pomar Foundation Penrose House.

The goal of the event was to help women, and particularly mothers, become entrepreneurs and inventors. It was organized by the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Imagination Celebration and Academy School District 20.

“I realize women really represent a great source of entrepreneurial activity,” said UCCS professor of engineering Michael Larson, who ran the seminar.

The women in attendance showed how true that is.

Take Heather Berryman. A mother of two, she came up with her first invention in seventh grade, a brush combined with a hair spray bottle, but has never known how to make them a reality.

“I believe moms have the most ideas, because they’re dealing with the problems of the day all day long,” she said.

She wouldn’t divulge much about her latest invention — lest someone steal it — but said it’s a blanket, and she got the idea when her kids recently got bunk beds.

Taylor would also say little about her invention, but she did say it is clothing, and she got the idea while pregnant with her son. But she wondered how to get it off the ground.

That was the focus of the seminar. Speakers talked about protecting an idea, making prototypes, getting patents, spreading the word, manufacturing and shipping — all on a shoestring budget.

But the most important lesson may have been, when you have an idea, just go for it.

“It really is, in large degree, just a matter of making the decision that ‘I can do this,’” Larson said.

And though the mothers in attendance dreamed of having that million-dollar idea, that isn’t necessarily the goal.

“When you have kids, especially, you kind of want to feel like you’re still doing something for yourself, because your entire life goes to the kids,” said Renee Wilburn, mother of three.

The event got off to a late start, after the engineers had trouble getting the sound system to work. They were, it must be pointed out, all men.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-1605 or scott.rappold@gazette.com