Copyright © Françoise Herrmann
The 2021 European Patent Organization (EPO) Inventor Award Ceremony was held this year on June 17th in an unprecedented online event, open to the public. The virtual event was spectacularly animated, produced in a small studio at the EPO headquarters, located in Munich, Germany. A ceremony, viewable in 5 languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese), using a link at the EPO website. [Recorded video of the 2-hour EPO 2021 Inventor Awards Cermenony] No description of the event could capture the animations, which were truly delightful.
The winners, announced in each of the 5 categories of award, were the following, including a short video of inventor interviews from the ceremony.
- Industry
Per Gisle Djupesland (Norway)
Better nasal drug delivery
- Research
Robert N. Grass and Wendelin Stark (Austria/Switzerland)
DNA-based data storage
- Non-EPO Country
Sumita Mitra (India/USA)
Restoring smiles with nanomaterials.
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
Henrik Lindström and Giovanni Fili (Sweden)
Flexible solar cells for portable devices.
- Life-time Acheivement
Karl Leo (Germany)
Advances in organic semiconductors, used in particular for Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) televisions.
- Popular Prize
Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic (Serbia/USA) - Advances in tissue engineering.
Going forward, during the June 17th, 2021 ceremony,
the EPO Director, Antonio Campinos, announced a new prize category for young inventors, 30 years and younger. The call for nominations for the 2022 EPO Young Inventors Prize is already open, here, with a deadline for submitting
applications on October 1, 2021.
Unlike the other categories of award, a granted EPO patent is not required for nomination, nor is national membership to the European Patent Organization. Thus, young inventors from anywhere in the world might compete for the EPO Young Inventor Prize. Inventions are required to demonstrate sustainability in any given technical, engineering or scientific field, compatible with any one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end world poverty, defined by the United Nations. [UN SDGs]
References
EPO Inventor Awards – The Ceremony [1:50:00] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gfJMelRixc&t=609s
EPO Young Inventors Prize https://www.epo.org/news-events/events/european-inventor/young-inventors.html
UN Sustainable Development Goas (SDGs) https://sdgs.un.org/goals
Winners of the EPO Inventor Awards revealed https://www.epo.org/news-events/news/2021/20210617.html
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