Patents on the soles of your shoes...: EPO Oscars 2014

Sunday, May 11, 2014

EPO Oscars 2014 - Time to vote!

It’s that time of the year again! The European Patent Awards ceremony will be held this year in Berlin, Germany, on June 17, 2014.

Until June 10, 2014, you (dear reader) may participate in this event by casting your vote for the Popular Prize Award. And in many ways your vote counts twice, since for every vote cast, the EPO will donate .25 Euros (twenty five cents) to the Child Vision Project, up to a maximum of 25,000 Euros.

The Child Vision Project was set up by Joshua Silver, professor of physics at Oxford University in the UK, 2011 EPO awards finalist, and inventor of the water-filled adjustable lenses, enabling the distribution of glasses to third world countries for less one Euro per pair. Considering the ratio of optometrists per capita of 1:2 million in countries like Mali for example, it is estimated that an appointment would take up 200 years… So, adjustable glasses, constructed with fluid filled lenses, enables self-adjustment of lenses using a tiny wheel, which either pushes the liquid in a chamber between two plastic lenses outwards creating plus lenses for longsighted people, or the other way, inwards, for negative lenses and shortsighted people!

You may cast your vote(s) free of charge at www.eop.org/vote

And probably due to the special gifts attached to your vote, the voting rules are as follows: “You can vote once a day for as many of the 15 finalists as you wish. However, you cannot vote for the same inventor more than once a day. Voting is free of charge.” (!)

Your vote also qualifies you for the drawing of a free “cell-fuel” charger for your mobile devices…!

The finalists are listed at http://www.epo.org/learning-events/european-inventor/popular-prize.html

Among the brilliant contending inventions for the Popular Award:

EP1527050 - Drug against multi-resistant tuberculosis (Koen Andries [BE] et al.)
EP0946450, EP2242806, EP2282203 - Self-cleaning cement (Luigi Cassar [IT] et al.)
EP2129792 B1 - Microchip for quick DNA testing (Christofer Toumazou [UK])
EP1873259, EP1750771, EP1583832 - Gene-silencing technique to treat disease (Tomas Tuschl [DE])
EP2375481 - Implantable biofuel cell that runs on glucose (Philippe Cinquin [FR] et al.)
EP1947966 - Inflatable bike helmet (Teresa Alstin, Anna Haupt [SE])
EP1885477, EP1937395 - Energy-efficient water purification (Peter Holme Jensen [DK])
EP1223637, EP1380069, EP1258054 – Fractal-based antenna for mobile phones (Carles Puente [ES] et al.)
EP0171069, EP0681906, EP1946910, EP0852536 - 3D printing (stereolithography) (Charles W. Hull [US])