Rainer Marquardt named Lifetime Achievement laureate in European Inventor Award
In each edition of the European Inventor Award, one individual is honoured for their long-term contributions to advancing scientific knowledge and developing technologies that change the world. In 2026, German professor Rainer Marquardt has been named the Lifetime Achievement laureate for his outstanding career in power electronics and grid infrastructure. The EPO will celebrate his work during the ceremony streamed from Berlin on Thursday, 2 July.
Professor Marquardt was selected by the jury for developing the Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC), a technology that has become a global standard. Modern energy systems require efficient, flexible power conversion across long distances and varying voltage levels. Earlier converter designs relied on bulky capacitors, filters and high-voltage devices that reduced efficiency and created safety risks. Rainer Marquardt solved this with his MMC, which features a modular architecture of controllable voltage sources, named submodules. This structure produces high-quality, stepped voltage waveforms, which eliminates the need for large output filters, significantly reduces harmonic distortion and enables high-power transmission up to the gigawatt scale. In doing so, the MMC made it practical to connect distant renewable energy sources to population centres while maintaining the stable supply on which modern infrastructure depends.
