invention

A solution to a technical problem (i.e., technology) that may or not be patentable.

In the United States, in order to have a patentable invention, one must have a development that is useful, novel (no single prior art reference shows the identical development), and unobvious to one skilled in the art at the time the invention was made, which is assumed to be the filing date of the patent application.

any art or process (way of doing or making things), machine, manufacture, design, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, or any variety of plant, which is or may be patentable under the patent laws of the United States.

-- see 35 USC 100 for more