Lifestyle
Last updated: 17.12.2019
Your daily routine is highly likely to include inventions by European Inventor Award winners and finalists.
Akira Yoshino
This Japanese scientist developed the lithium-ion battery, an invention used every day by billions of people around the world.
Amnon Shashua and the Mobileye team
Millions of cars are safer to drive thanks to an advanced driver assistance system that uses AI and a single-lens camera to spot and avoid traffic hazards in real time.
Marta Karczewicz
If you enjoy streaming video, read all about the Polish inventor who spent years working on how to compress video files more effectively.
Terese Alstin and Anna Haupt
Form, function and safety: these Swedish inventors developed an "invisible" bicycle helmet that offers better protection and shock absorption than standard helmets.
Masahiro Hara, Motoaki Watabe, Tadao Nojiri, Takayuki Nagaya and Yuji Uchiyama
This Japanese team invented the QR code, a 2D bar code that allows scanners to find and interpret information 20 times faster than matrix codes.
Bruno Berge
The brilliantly simple principle that oil and water don't mix is behind the "liquid lenses" invented by French scientist Bruno Berge.
António Velez Marques, Helena Pereira, Rui Reis and Susana Silva
This Portuguese team’s incredibly simple invention to increase the volume of cork is helping producers to meet global demand.
Joshua Silver
Simply brilliant: these liquid-filled lenses can be adjusted by individual wearers without the need for an optician.
Hermann Greter and Christoph Weis
A small jet regulator for bathroom and kitchen taps invented by two German experts unlocks enormous water savings of up to 50%.
Oktoberfest: No beer without patents
On the busiest days, bartenders at the Munich Oktoberfest serve up to 70 000 litres of beer – all in record time. Thanks to modern technology, the beer keeps flowing and never peters out during the festival's 16-day run.