29 | 05 | 2015

European Inventor Award – fifteen outstanding inventors competing for the 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.

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.

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 NFC data transfer technology.

Finalists in the "SMEs" category are Laura Johanna 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 and how to vote at:

www.epo.org/learning-events/european-inventor/popular-prize.html

www.facebook.com/europeanpatentoffice