Sub Navigation
Promotion
Learning area
Find seminars and other educational events offered by the EPO or consult e-learning modules online
Patent-related events
URL: Location: Home→About us→EPO events →European Patent Forum and Inventor of the Year 2008→European Inventor of the Year
European Inventor of the Year 2008
The most inventive minds in Europe
Every year the European Patent Office joins up with the European Commission's DG Enterprise and Industry to honour some of the continent's brightest minds as the European Inventors of the Year.
The third European Inventor of the Year awards took place in Ljubljana on 6 May 2008, marking Slovenia's presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2008.
The winners in 2008 were:
Lifetime Achievement
- Erik De Clercq of the University of Leuven (Belgium) for landmark contributions to antiviral treatment, including the development of the drug cocktail for AIDS which has become the gold standard of our day.
Industry
- Audi's Norbert Enning, Ulrich Klages, Heinrich Timm, Gundolf Kreis, Alois Feldschmid, Christian Dornberg and Karl Reiter (Germany) for revolutionising automotive manufacturing by making car frames lighter and safer through the use of aluminium.
SMEs and Research
- Douglas Anderson, Robert Henderson and Roger Lucas of Scotland's SME Optos (United Kingdom) for developing a new laser scanning technology for the eye which allows powerful but pain-free examination of the retina.
Non-European Inventors
- SRI International's Philip S. Green (United States) for developing a robotic surgical system that has helped to improve surgery in Europe by allowing surgeons to perform complex procedures with the highest precision.