By Rodney Brown

Who says you need to be on either side of the Charles River to be the home of true innovation? After all Maine has a long history of inventing things you probably thought came from somewhere else. Now the list has grown with the addition of the Slanket, the original sleeved blanket that competitor the Snuggie has so recently made famous.

Apparently Gary Clegg, a University of Maine student in 1998, found the winter nights in Orono too cold, so he came up with the idea of a blanket with sleeves and asked his mom to stitch one up. And that is just the latest in a string of Maine-born inventions that stretch all the way back to the toothpick.

Earmuffs, the power drill, the snow plow and the thermostat all got their start in Maine, as did the invention that helped drive Rhode Island-based Dunkin’ Donuts to its current heights, the donut hole machine.

The Slanket, however, is simply one example of an area where Maine continues to shine in innovation — materials sciences. Last year the Maine Composites Alliance was brought back into the public eye with the appointment of new executive director Stephen Von Vogt, the founder of several composite materials firms, including Maine Marine Composites Inc., along with new funding through the Maine Technology Institute.

As Jake Ward, assistant vice president of research, economic development and governmental relations at the University of Maine, put it in a report on the sector: “We have learned how to stick stuff together.”