Young Inventors Prize 2025: Meet the Tomorrow Shapers
The European Patent Office (EPO) has unveiled ten innovators — the Tomorrow Shapers — for the 2025 Young Inventors Prize. Spanning five continents, these young inventors contribute to multiple United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and provide solutions in areas such as e-waste, rare earth element recovery, aviation, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, carbon capture, food security and environmental protection.
Three special prizes and People’s Choice awarded on 18 June
The Tomorrow Shapers will take centre stage during a ceremony livestreamed from Reykjavik, Iceland on 18 June at 18.00 hrs CEST. Three special prizes will be awarded to outstanding initiatives, and in addition, the public can now vote online for the People’s Choice winner – also set to be revealed live during the event.
Meet the Tomorrow Shapers
The Young Inventors Prize recognises breakthrough initiatives from inventors or teams of inventors aged 30 and under. The 2025 Tomorrow Shapers are:
- Mark Kennedy Bantugon (Philippines): Material to prevent fuel leakages in planes
- Alisha Fredriksson (Sweden/Canada) and Roujia Wen (China): Retrofit carbon capture system for cargo ships
- Pilar Granado, Pablo Sosa Domínguez and Luis Chimeno (Spain): Smart labels for food
- Laurynas Karpus, Vykintas Jauniškis and Irmantas Rokaitis (Lithuania): AI platform for creating and enhancing enzymes
- Franziska Kerber (Austria): Sustainable paper components for electronic devices
- Neeka Mashouf and Leila Mashouf (US): Process to transform CO2 emissions into cellulose
- Sandra Namboozo and Samuel Muyita (Uganda): Sachets for extending the shelf life of fruit
- Mariana Pérez (Colombia): Air pollution capture and cleaning technology
- Teja Potočnik (Slovenia): Automated manufacturing platform for nanomaterial-based semiconductor devices
- Marie Perrin (France/US): Recycling rare earth elements from electronic waste
People’s Choice voting begins
Now that the Tomorrow Shapers have been revealed, we invite you to vote for your favourite initiative in the People’s Choice. Review the web profiles linked below and vote via the button in each profile. You may vote once per day until the day of the ceremony.
About the Young Inventors Prize
Launched in 2022 as part of the European Inventor Award, the Young Inventors Prize becomes a standalone event from 2025, alternating each year with the Award. The Prize spotlights ten young innovators or teams, awarding three special prizes and inviting the public to vote for their favourite.