The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced the fifteen finalists for this year’s award. European Inventor Award and Young Inventors Prize. These include teams and individuals in more than 15 countries who are working hard to improve life on our planet and the Earth itself.
The EPO is the European administrative body that grants patents for new inventions. The European Inventor Award is a sought-after symbol of innovation in the technical field in Europe and beyond.
These finalists and their inventions are tackling challenges that help create more sustainable societies and improve our daily lives. They are driving technological advances in a variety of areas, including healthcare, energy storage and manufacturing.
You can watch the final awards ceremony in the video at the top of this article at 12:00 (CET) on July 9.
The event’s four main categories are Industry, Research, Non-EPO countries and SMEs. From breakthroughs in healthcare to environmentally friendly manufacturing, participants’ innovations transcend borders and directly address pressing global issues.
All finalists in these four traditional categories of the European Inventor Award are eligible for the Popular Prize, which is awarded by the public.
There is also the Young Inventors Prize, which celebrates inventors under 30 who are working on sustainable solutions. Unlike traditional award categories, Young Inventors Prize finalists do not need to have a granted European patent to be eligible for the award.
The prizes consist of cash amounts of up to 20,000 euros.
This year the Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Carol Vivien Robinson for her innovative approach to mass spectrometry, which has transformed our understanding of proteins in their natural environment and paved the way for advances in drug discovery and personalized medicine.
These are the EPO finalists and their projects:
Industry
Icelander Ferret Sigurjonsson and his team have been nominated for the development of a biotechnological product for wound healing using fish skin.
Fiorenzo Dioni from Italy and Richard Oberle from Germany are being praised for their advances in aluminum casting technology, which reduces CO2 emissions in car production.
Ulf Landegren And Simon Frederiksson from Sweden are in the running for their work in molecular diagnostics to improve disease detection and management.
Research
German Cordelia Schmid is recognized for its AI solutions that enable advanced machine perception that closely mimics human visual interpretation.
Maltese duo Tonio Sant and Daniel Buhagiar and their team have been nominated for their sustainable solution for offshore energy storage.
The French team led by David Devos and Caroline Moreau are shortlisted for their innovative treatments for Parkinson’s disease, which offer better control of the disease with fewer side effects.
Non-EPO countries
A Brazilian team led by Fernando Catalano and Micael Carmo have been nominated for their innovations that reduce noise pollution and CO2 emissions from air travel.
American based David Fattal is praised for its advancements in display optics and software to create 3D images without glasses.
Masato Sagawa from Japan has been nominated for his contributions to the development of high-performance permanent magnets for use in various high-tech applications.
SME (small and medium-sized enterprises)
Finnish inventors Sirpa Jalkanen and Markku Jalkanen have been nominated for their work on targeted immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer.
French inventors Bruno Mottet, Lydéric Bocquet and their team are competing for the prize for their osmotic energy generation technology using nanostructured materials.
A Polish team led by Olga Malinkiewicz has been nominated for their innovative technology for printing thin-film perovskite solar cells.
Young Inventors Award
Celebrating its third year, the Young Inventors Prize celebrates the ingenuity of individuals aged 30 and under whose technological innovations show promise for advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This platform underscores the critical role of youth in driving global invention forward.
This year’s participants are:
The Turkish team of Khaoula Ben Ahmed, Ghofrane Ayari, Souleima Ben Temime and Sirine Ayari with MOOVOBRAIN, a smart all-in-one wheelchair control solution that enables people with severe disabilities to navigate independently.
Ukrainian Valentin Frechka with a new generation of technology that tackles deforestation and carbon emissions by converting leaves into eco-friendly paper.
And from the Netherlands, Rochelle Niemeijer to design a portable test kit to rapidly diagnose bacterial infections, addressing the pressing problem of antimicrobial resistance.
Winners announced on July 9
The European Inventor Award jury consists of inventors who are all former finalists. To assess proposals, the independent panel will draw on their wealth of technical, business and intellectual property expertise.
In 2024, the jury will be chaired by Wolfgang M. Heckl, Director General of the Deutsches Museum in Munich and holder of the Oskar von Miller Chair for Science Communication at the Technical University of Munich, where he researches molecular self-organization in the field of nanotechnology.
Other jury members are: Catia Bastioli, Nuno Correia, Nuria Espallargas, Joachim Fiedler, Peter Holme Jensen, Marta Karczewicz, Ursula Keller, Agnès Poulbot, Erin Smith, Richard Turere and Zhentian Wang.