Cleaning the air with nature: Chilean inventors selected as finalists for the European Inventor Award 2026

• Agricultural engineer Aníbal Montalva Rodríguez and architect Miguel Ángel Fernández Donoso developed a living biofilter that reduces fine particulate air pollution by more than 90%
• The nature-inspired system uses biological processes to remove pollutants from combustion gases, making smoke and odour disappear
• The Chilean inventor duo are finalists in the ‘Non-EPO Countries’ category. The winners will be announced during the Award ceremony on 2 July 2026 in Berlin
• Public voting for the Popular Prize opens today and will be running until the ceremony on 2 July 2026

Munich, 12 May 2026 – According to Chile’s Ministry of Energy, around 72% of households in the south-central regions rely on firewood as their main source of heating, while many industries produce smoke and odours from combustion processes, all contributing to poor air quality. Governmental sources estimate that nearly 10 million inhabitants in Chile are exposed to particulate matter levels up to eight times higher than WHO recommendations. Chilean inventors Aníbal Montalva Rodríguez and Miguel Ángel Fernández Donoso have developed a living biofilter that reduces particulate matter emissions and odours by more than 90%, using plants and microorganisms to clean polluted air, making smoke disappear. For this work, they have been selected as finalists in the ‘Non-EPO Countries’ category of the European Inventor Award 2026 by an independent jury.

Turning plants into air filters

In many Chilean cities, especially during winter, smoke from residential heating accumulates at street level, exposing residents to high concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Conventional air-cleaning technologies are often energy-intensive, costly or poorly suited to dense urban environments.

Agricultural engineer Montalva Rodríguez and architect Fernández Donoso developed a system that draws smoke through a vertical structure filled with vegetation and a specially designed substrate. As the exhaust gases from the furnaces are cooled down and passed through the system, microorganisms and plant roots break down the pollutants, absorbing them as nutrients to grow more healthily, creating a mutually beneficial ecosystem. The filter operates continuously, requires little energy and is scalable, meaning it can be installed directly in homes, public spaces - such as streets, schools and hospitals, and large industrial settings. While originally aimed at wood-fed furnaces, the solution is suited for retrieving particulate matter from other fuels and has exceptional results in odour-control.

“The moment you install the filter and turn it on, the smoke from the chimney just disappears. Seeing it vanish in real time is one of the most powerful things about the system,” said Aníbal Montalva Rodríguez. The invention improves air quality using natural filtration processes, avoiding chemical treatments, energy-intensive technologies, and allowing for essential affordable resources to serve as clean energy and heat.

Developing and deploying a living biofilter

The system emerged from the inventors’ concern about the visible and persistent air-quality problems affecting Chilean cities. Using their knowledge and experience in the fields of agronomy and mechanics, they developed an approach to clean air directly, using nature as their main inspiration and material.

This work led to the development of a patented technology and the creation of the company Filtrovivo, which has since deployed biofilters in several Chilean regions, including Tarapacá, Metropolitana, O’Higgins, Maule, Ñuble, Biobío, Araucanía, and Aysén. The system has attracted interest as a scalable and adaptable solution for other areas facing air-quality challenges linked to biomass burning, urban pollution and odour control.

“In Chile, people are used to importing technology, not exporting it. Growing up here, where resources are often limited, really shaped how we approach problems. It pushed us to think creatively and look for solutions no one else was offering,” said Miguel Ángel Fernández Donoso.

Aníbal Montalva Rodríguez and Miguel Ángel Fernández Donoso are two of three finalists in the ‘Non-EPO Countries’ category of the European Inventor Award 2026. The other ‘Non-EPO Countries’ finalists are the American inventor Emily Morris and German professor Thorsten Stoesser for their modular hydropower system; and the Chinese inventors Yu Haijun and Xie Yinghao for their lithium-ion battery recycling process. The European Patent Office will announce the winners during a livestreamed ceremony from Berlin on 2 July 2026. In addition to the four award categories, the Popular Prize will be decided through a combined vote by the public and the independent jury. Public voting opens on 12 May 2026 and will be running until the ceremony on 2 July 2026.

Find more information about the technology, its impact and the inventors here.

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Roberta Romano-Götsch
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About the European Inventor Award

The European Inventor Award is one of Europe's most prestigious innovation prizes. Launched by the EPO in 2006, the award honours individuals and teams, who have come up with solutions to some of the biggest challenges of our time. The European Inventor Award jury consists of inventors who are all former finalists. To judge proposals, the independent panel draws on their wealth of technical, business, and intellectual property expertise. All inventors must have been granted a European patent for their invention. Read more on the various categories, prizes, selection criteria and livestream ceremony to be held on 2 July in Berlin.

About the EPO

With 6,300 staff members, the European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the largest public service institutions in Europe. Headquartered in Munich with offices in Berlin, Brussels, The Hague and Vienna, the EPO was founded with the aim of strengthening co-operation on patents in Europe. Through the EPO's centralised patent granting procedure, inventors are able to obtain high-quality patent protection in up to 46 countries, covering a market of some 700 million people. The EPO is also the world's leading authority in patent information and patent searching.