Sub Navigation
Celebrating innovation on World IP Day
25 avril 2008
Désolé. Actuellement, cette page n'existe pas en français.
This weekend patent offices across the globe will be celebrating innovation on World Intellectual Property Day. The EPO is marking the day by presenting the technologies behind some of Europe's most remarkable inventions.
Each year the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) organises World IP Day on 26 April, the day the Convention establishing the organization came into effect in 1970. The motto of this year's event is "celebrating innovation and promoting respect for intellectual property".
In a message to mark the event, WIPO Director Kamil Idris said: "We are celebrating not only the enormous power of human creativity, but also the intellectual property rights that help to fuel and channel it, making it such an important driving force for economic, cultural and social development."
"The ingenuity of our species has propelled us from the invention of the first wheel, to effortless air travel and the latest generation of clean fuel technologies."
In the spirit of celebrating innovation, the EPO is publishing twelve features that present the technologies that led to this year's nominations for the European Inventor of the Year awards.
These awards are presented each year by the EPO and European Commission (EC) to inventors who have made significant contributions towards innovation in Europe. This year's award ceremony will take place in Ljubljana on 6 May.
The nominees in 2008 include some of the foremost inventors of the past decade, such as Eric De Clerq, who developed the drug cocktail which has become standard in AIDS treatment; Leonardo Chiariglione, the creator of digital TV and MPEG technology; and Stefan Hell, the scientist who overcame the conventional physical limits in light microscopy.
Other inventions considered for the prize have brought advances in car manufacturing to make driving safer and cleaner, or have addressed the problem of noise pollution from aeroplane engines.
Further information
- Innovation and the economy: Remarkable inventions
- EPO events: European Inventor of the Year 2008
- News from 10.4.2008: Nominees for Europe's top innovation prize announced