Nominees announced for the European Inventor Award 2010

8 March 2010

Twelve candidates from nine countries are competing this year for the European Inventor Award 2010, a highly regarded innovation prize presented annually by the EPO together with the European Commission.

The prize, which is purely symbolic and involves no material recompense, is awarded in four categories: Lifetime achievement, Industry, SMEs/research and Non-European countries. The four winners will be chosen by a high-ranking international jury and will be presented with their prizes by EPO President Alison Brimelow in Madrid on 28 April 2010.

Vice-President Antonio Tajani, Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, says: "The nominees underline the richness of the human imagination. Their inventions mean a lot for mankind and for shaping our modern world; yet their innovatory spirit also helps to create jobs in Europe and strengthen its competitiveness. I hope these inventors en-courage others to follow their paths."

"The core task of the patent system is to support innovation through the effective protection of inventions. We must seek to maintain and strengthen the performance of the system to ensure the patent-based diffusion of pioneering technologies into the future", says EPO President Alison Brimelow.

The nominees for the European Inventor Award 2010 are:

Industry

• Hermann Grether and Christoph Weis (Germany) for inventing the Perlator, a jet regulator for water taps, provides an effective means of saving precious drinking water.
• Albert Markendorf and Raimund Loser (Switzerland) for inventing a three-dimensional laser-controlled measuring system for quality control in the automotive and aerospace industry with maximum-precision metrology.
• Benedetto Vigna (Italy) for inventing a three-dimensional motion sensor for use in wireless controllers like the motion control sensor of the Nintendo Wii.

SMEs/research

• Jürgen Pfitzer and Helmut Nägele (Germany) for inventing Arboform. A "green" alternative to plastic; this natural polymer is currently used around the world in the manufacture of car parts, children's toys, furniture and much more.
• Albert Gelet, Jean-Yves Chapelon, Dominique Cathignol, Emmanuel Blanc (France) for inventing an ultrasound treatment that is now an integral part of a highly effective device for fighting prostate cancer.
• Jorge Blasco, José Luis Gonzalez, Francisco Andres, Antonio Pairet and Antonio Poveda (Spain) for inventing a way to transmit data over power lines, providing fast internet access straight from the wall socket.

Lifetime achievement

• Peter Landrock (Denmark), whose pioneering work formed the basis for many of the encryption methods used today for the digital transmission of confidential data
• Wolfgang Krätschmer (Germany), who invented a procedure for synthesising C60 carbon molecules (fullerenes) used to develop new lubricants and fuels, electronic superconductors and polymers designed for data storage.
• Désiré Collen (Belgium), whose findings in the field of blood clots broke new ground in medication for strokes and heart attacks.

Non-European countries

• Sanjai Kohli and his team (USA) for their revolutionary receiver-chip design, which helped GPS successfully find its way onto the consumer market.
• Danny Epp and Ben Wiens (Canada), for their work on hydrogen fuel cells for mobile applications, used today in many buses around the world.
• Napoleone Ferrara and his team (USA) for inventing the cancer drug Avastin, which inhibits the growth of cancer cells and is the basis for a gentler, focused therapy.

Nominations for the European Inventor Award can be made by the inventors themselves or put forward by patent examiners from the national patent offices and the EPO.

Further information

• European Inventor Award: Nominees 2010
• EPO events: European Patent Forum and European Inventor Award 2010
• Press: Information, photos and videos for journalists