European Inventor Award – fifteen outstanding inventors competing for the Popular Prize
- On 11 June the European Patent Office (EPO) will present the tenth European Inventor Award
- The winner of the Popular Prize will be selected exclusively by the public in an online poll
- Voting open until 4 June on www.epo.org
Munich, 20 May 2015 - Voting has begun for the EPO's Popular Prize. When the winners of the European Inventor Award are announced on 11 June in Paris, one of the 15 finalists will also take home the Popular Prize. But unlike the winners in the other categories, who are decided by an international jury, the Popular Prize is the public's choice alone.
Voting on the EPO website and Facebook open until 4 June
The public is invited to vote online
for their favourite finalist on the EPO website or Facebook page. Taking part
is quick and easy. More
information about the 15 candidates is available at www.epo.org and www.facebook.com/europeanpatentoffice.
The poll is open until 4 June
2015; and the public can vote as often as they like. All voters will be entered
into a draw, giving them a chance to win a prize.
Fifteen exceptional inventors vying for the prize
The European Inventor Award jury has
selected three finalists for each of the five competition categories. Finalists
in the "Industry" category are Jean-Christophe Giron (France) and his
team for their electronically tintable glass, Gunnar Asplund (Sweden) for his
high-voltage power grid connection without overhead power lines, and the team
led by Franz Amtmann (Austria) and Philippe Maugars (France) for their contribution
to NFC data transfer technology.
Finalists in the "SMEs" category are
Laura van 't Veer (Netherlands) and her team for their gene-based breast cancer
test, Michel Lescanne (France) for his peanut paste for combatting
malnutrition, and John Elvesjö and Mårten Skogö (Sweden) for their eye-tracking
technology that enables computers to be controlled with the eye.
Finalists in the "Research" category are scientists Luke Alphey
(UK) for his new method of controlling dengue fever, Hendrik Marius Jonkers
(Netherlands) for his self-healing bioconcrete, and Ludwik Leibler (France) for
his new class of polymers, known as vitrimers.
Finalists in the "Lifetime Achievement" category are Ivars Kalvins (Latvia) for his well-known Mildronate heart medication and others, Kornelis Schouhamer Immink (Netherlands) for his coding methods for CD, DVD and Blu-ray discs, and Andreas Manz (Switzerland) for his pioneering research in microfluidics and as the mind behind lab-on-a-chip technology.
Finalists in the "Non-European Countries" category are Ian Frazer (Australia) and Jian Zhou† (China) for the first cervical cancer vaccine, Sumio Iijima, Akira Koshio and Masako Yudasaka (Japan) for their carbon nanotubes, and Elizabeth Holmes (US) for her simplified blood-testing system.
Learn more about the Popular Prize, how to vote, and the European Inventor Award at:
- www.epo.org/learning-events/european-inventor/popular-prize.html
- www.facebook.com/europeanpatentoffice
- Media centre
Contact:
Rainer Osterwalder
Director Media Relations
Tel: +49 89 2399-1820
rosterwalder@epo.org