Beginning at NYU in Jan 2013 within the context of a Patents Translation course delivered online, this blog seeks to uncover the patents that rock our daily lives....
The familiar ON logo appearing everywhere on the ON CLOUDS brand products is a registered wordmark at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). However, the registered wordmark description only partially reveals the logo’s meaning. The description registered in the USPTO database reads:
“The mark consists of the stylized lowercase wording 'ON' with the 'O' appearing on top of the letter "N". The 'O' has a small square extension diagonally sticking out of its top-right side. " Further below is the wording "DREAM ON.".
Indeed, ‘the small square extension diagonally sticking out” that makes the “O” look like an upside-down “Q” is in fact an old-fashioned stylized “light switch”. A switch, which graphically aligns with the brand’s desire to “ignite the human spirit with movement”.
The ON CLOUDS GmbH company was founded in 2010, in Zurich, Switzerland, by three former professional athletes: Olivier Bernhard*, David Allemann, and Caspar Coppeti. The brand took off with Roger Federer’s endorsement and co-designer partnership in 2019, then went public on the New York Stock Exchange (ONON) in 2021. However, the story of the brand’s origin is one of a kind.
Indeed, ON running shoes were born of cut garden hose pieces (seen as “clouds”) attached under a sports shoe upper. The garden hose pieces were intended to provide a soft landing—gentle on knees—when compressed under the runner’s repeated impact with the ground. Such garden-hose “clouds” would also provide a hard enough surface to enable propulsion, after compression under impact with the ground. An original idea, cobbled by Oliver Bernhard, that became the brand’s “cushioned landing, powerful takeoff” award-winning** cloud technology.
The US design patent USD804159S, titled Shoe sole, was granted on Dec. 5, 2017 to David Allemann (CH ) and Olivier Bernhard (CH), for the ornamental properties of the ON CLOUDS running shoe sole, modeling the original hose-cloud sole.
Below, the patent Figures 1 and 2 depict, respectively, a bottom plan view and a lateral elevation view of the ON CLOUDS running shoe sole, together with an image of a marketed ON Clouds product.
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* Swiss Ironman champion.
** ON won the ISPO (Internationale Sponsorenmesse) BrandNew Award in 2010.
What’s a potting compound got to do with electronics, specifically the Ōura ring wearable computing device (WCD)? According to the US utility patent US11850069B, titled Wearable device and methods of manufacturing, the Ōura ring potting compound is preferably made of epoxy resin that is overmolded over the Ōura ring flexible circuit board and its electronic components. Thus, the Ōura ring potting compound encapsulates the miniaturized electronic components, preventing them from moving or being damaged by the environment. The potting compound also makes the smart ring impervious to water, which means you can wash dishes or swim without removing your ring. Fiinally, the potting compound forms a transparent window through which the tiny LED, red, green and infrared lights of the optical sensor can be concentrated and emitted, through finger skin into blood vessels, and re-captured by tiny photodiodes (PDs), to measure blood oxygen levels and variations in heart rate. Indeed, the Ōura ring potting compound and its particular embodiments, inside the exterior Ōura ring shell, is a patented invention.*
The included patent Figure 2 depicts an exploded view of an Ōura ring embodiment 200. Specifically, the patent Figure 2 depicts, the exterior ring shell 202, with alignment frames 204 and 206, made of a nickel, iron or cobalt alloy, attracted to the magnets of a charging base (undepicted on this figure drawing). The Figure 2 further depicts the electronic assembly 210, including a flexible circuit board 208, an antenna 222, a pressure sensor 216, a temperature sensor 214, and a near field communication (NFC) interface for connecting the ring via Bluetooth, wifi, Zigbee, ultra-wideband (UWB) or other wireless transmission. The Figure 2 also depicts the power source 220, and material 218 wedged between the power source 220 and the electronic assembly 210. Finally, the Figure 2 depicts the overmolded material 224 (the potting compound), encapsulating all the electronics and the power supply, within the exterior shell 202.
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*Note: The US utility patent US11850069B, titled Wearable device and methods of manufacturing, was awarded on December 26, 2023, to Denis Mars (US), Simon Ratner (US), and Curt C. von Badinski (US), one of the original Motiv Inc. , co-founders and smart ring inventors. In fact, the Motiv Inc., smart ring was the first comfortably and conveniently wearable computing device (WCD), which Ōuraring Inc., has continuously worked on improving, since Motiv Inc., was acquired via Proxy Inc.
The Ōura smart ring captures body messages and translates them into actionable information. For example, the Ōura smart ring records your heart rate, blood oxygen level, temperature, the number of steps you take, the number of calories you burn, and how you sleep, plus lots more. Indeed, the Ōura smart ring not only tracks and monitors body messages, it also synthesizes and summarizes them into meaningful daily, weekly, or monthly information, giving you feedback that allows you to make improvements to your health and fitness, in consultation with your healthcare providers. The heart rate data collected has even been evaluated with 99% accuracy, compared to heart rate measured via electrocardiogram (Ōura Science & Research).
The Ōura smart ring is a patented invention. For example, the following US design patent, USD79764S, titled Wearable computing device, was awarded on July 11th, 2017 to Curt C. vo Badinski (US) and Michael J. Strasser (US). The patent was assigned to Motiv Inc., in San Francisco, CA, a competitor that was eventually acquired by Ōuraring Inc., in 2023.*
Below, an image of the patent Figure 1, showing a perspective view of the wearable computing device. An image of one of the latest, generation 5, Ōura ring embodiments of the patented design is also included below. A short YouTube marketing video of the Ōura smart rings 5 is also included beneath.
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Note*: Motiv Inc., including its patent portfolio, was first acquired by Proxy, Inc., in 2020. Then Ōuraring Inc., acquired Proxy Inc., in 2023.
Each year, the European Inventor Award winners receive a trophy in the shape of a sail. Pun intended in English, although when the power of the wind was first harnessed for sailing, circa 5000 BC, on Egypt’s River Nile, the invention is certainly assumed to have promoted new trade routes. In any event, the sail design holds up well across cultures as a symbol of adventure or discovery, and by extension, innovation.
The stunning sail trophy was designed by the German industrial Product Designer, Prof. Miriam Irle. Most importantly, the sail trophy was also designed with the insight that it would be fabricated each year in a material significant to the location of the awards ceremony. Thus, for example, when the European Inventor Awards ceremony was held in Venice, Italy, the trophies were made of Murano glass. Likewise, when the European Inventor Awards were held in Lisbon, Portugal, the sail trophies were made of azulejo porcelain. Whereas, when the ceremony was held in France, the sail trophies were fabricated using computer-aided parametric modeling for 3D stereolithographic printing. As a result, each of the 2018 sail trophies featured different and intricate latticework. Six lattice designs, for the six award categories, each evoking the landmark Eiffel Tower's revolutionary, open-lattice ironwork, created using 18,000 pre-cut iron pieces, and built from 1887 to 1889.
The year 2026 was no exception in Berlin, Germany. However, the fabricator’s name and the materials used for the trophies were both withheld at the EPO website.* An image of the 2026 Inventor Awards Trophy, which appears to be crafted of metal, is inset above.
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*Note: According to Pr. Miriam Irle (personal communication), the early agreed-upon trophy designer was the well-known Berlin jewelry makerLuise Zücker. A selection which could not be confirmed at the time of the Ceremony.
On July 2nd, 2026, the winning European Inventors were announced during a ceremony held in Berlin, Germany. The winners in the four categories of Industry, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Research, and Non-EPO Countries, plus the Popular Prize, and a Lifetime Achievement Award were the following:
In 2027, the European Patent Office (EPO) will be honoring Young Inventors < 30 years old. The ceremony will take place in Vienna (Austria), at a date yet to be announced. The nomination period is now open, until September 30th, 2026. Please click here to access the EPO nomination platform.
If you missed the Awards Ceremony on July 2nd, 2026, a link to the YouTube video recording of the event is included below the group picture. The ceremony lasts about 80 minutes.
Like the brand name HOKA, the 2017 Arahi running shoes also have a Maori name. Arahi in the Maori language of New Zealand means “to lead” or “to guide”, consonant with “pathfinder”. Additionally, the 2017 HOKA One One* Arahi midsole is a patented design.
The US design patent USD790174, titled Footwear midsole was awarded on June 27, 2017, to Kyle Pulli (US), and assigned to Deckers Outdoor Corporation in California. As a reminder, a US design patent covers the ornamental properties of an invention, or what the object looks like. In contrast, a US utility patent covers the functional properties of the design, or how an invention works and/or is manufactured (USPTO – MPEP).
The below patent Figure 1 depicts a front perspective view of the patented design, together with an image of a marketed 2017 HOKA One OneArahi women’s running shoe. The broken lines on the drawing indicate those parts of the design that are excluded from patent protection.
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*Note - Originally, the brand name HOKA, meaning "to fly" in Maori, was called HOKA One One - "to fly over the earth",pronounced "Oh-nay, Oh-nay", a termwhich means "earth" in Maori. Thus, some of the early models are prefixed with the original brand name HOKA One One.
The HOKA Speedgoat 6 trail-running shoe also features a patented midsole. The US design patent, USD992249, titled Footwear midsole, was awarded on July 18, 2023, to three inventors: Matthew James Head (US), Tom Matic (GB) and Tom Weightman(GB). The patent is assigned to Deckers Outdoor Corporation, in California.
Below the patent Figure 3 depicts a side elevation view of the patented design. Broken lines at the junction of the midsole and upper indicate the portions of the design that are unclaimed in the patent. As a reminder, a US design patent covers the ornamental properties of an invention, or what the object looks like. In contrast, a US utility patent covers the functional aspects of an invention, or how an invention works and/or is manufactured (USPTO – MPEP).
The image of a HOKA Speedgoat 6 GTX sports shoe is also included below, showing a marketed embodiment of the patented midsole design.
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Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fastest goat?
Midsoles are at the heart of HOKA footwear innovation. Embedded with varying support structures, HOKA midsoles provide foam cushioning and variable curves, carefully calculated to harness more or less propulsion, depending on the user’s purposes (e.g., running, jogging or walking).
The US design patent, USD790175S, titled Footwear midsole, was awarded on June 27th, 2017, to Kyle Pulli, and assigned to Deckers Outdoor Corporation, the company that acquired HOKA in 2013. As a reminder, a US design patent covers the ornamental properties of an invention, or what the invention looks like. In contrast, a US utility patent covers the functional properties of an invention, or how an invention works and/or is manufactured (USPTO – MPEP).
The patent Figure 1 below depicts a front perspective view of the midsole design. The broken lines on the drawing indicate those parts of the design that are excluded from patent protection. The image of a 2017 HOKA One One* Gaviota women’s shoe, depicting a marketed embodiment of the patented midsole design, is also included below.
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*Note - Originally, the brand name HOKA, meaning "to fly" in Maori, was called HOKA One One - "to fly over the earth",pronounced "Oh-nay, Oh-nay", a termwhich means "earth" in Maori. Thus, some of the early models are prefixed with the original brand name HOKA One One.
The term HOKA, meaning “to fly”" in the Maori language of New Zealand, depicts the silhouette of a bird soaring through the brand name “O”. The brand name HOKA is consonant with the founders’ desire to design footwear that would properly cushion trail running, while providing propulsion for speed that would be as effortless and exhilarating as downhill skiing. A sport all too familiar to both founders, born and raised in the French Alps, having nurtured a life-long love of the outdoors, skiing in particular. Thus, according to Jean-Luc Diard, one of the co-founders, HOKA footwear was designed XXXL (i.e., both extra, extra, extra light, and extra, extra, extra large) to harness the required patented performances enabling users to "fly over the earth" running, jogging or walking.
HOKA was founded in Annecy (France) in 2009, gaining almost immediate traction within the sports community. Deckers, the American, multinational, shoe and apparel company then acquired HOKA in 2013, transforming HOKA into a very popular international, multi-million-dollar business.
Propulsion and cushioning in HOKAfootwear for running, jogging or walking, is a patented invention. The US utility patent, US12022912B2, titled Footwear with stabilizing sole, was awarded on July 2nd, 2024, to Jean-Luc Diard, (FR); Stephen Liu, (CN); Vincent Bouillard, (FR) and Christophe Aubonnet, (FR). The patent is assigned to Deckers Outdoor Corporation in Goleta, California.
The patent recites stabilizing footwear with inventive cushioning and suspension to harness the problem of shock absorption when the user’s body impacts the ground. The force of impact for each foot striking the ground is 5 times the user’s weight, with the highest impact at the heel area. When properly channeled and cushioned, the force of impact also serves to propulse the body forward. Thus, the invention footwear cleverly addresses the forces of impact and propulsion in the design of HOKA soles.
Figure 1, extracted from the patent, depicts a right side view of the HOKA invention footwear 20, comprising a sole 22 with a midsole 24 and an outsole 26. The outsole 26 has a bottom surface 112, in contact with the ground 34. The midsole 24, which provides cushioning, extends from a heel portion 30 to a toe portion 36. The midsole 24 has three thicknesses: T1 at the heel 30 portion, measuring 3.5 to 4.5 cm; T2 at midfoot 38, measuring 4 to 6 cm; and T3, measuring 3 to 5 cm at the forefoot 40 of the footwear. The midsole 24 also has a certain height from the ground 34 at the heel portion and another height from the ground 34 at the toe portion 36, so that the midsole curves down from the heel portion 30 to the midfoot 38, and then curves up from the midfoot 38 to the toe portion 36. Both midsole curves are part of what is designated Metarocker™ technology for HOKA marketing, designed to assist in propelling the body forward with each stride.
A strap 110 is positioned above the heel portion 30 that the user can grab to adjust the footwear. A wider stabilizing portion 44 beneath the rear portion 86 of the midsole 24, extends beyond the midsole 24to provide balance and stability on various uneven surfaces, such as on trails. The side 98 of the vamp 96 has tabs 102 with loops, and tabs 106 with holes, to enable threading of laces. A tongue 54 forms part of the upper 28, connected to the sole.
To further propel the body forward various carbon fiber or metal supports are embedded in the sole, depending on the model. Figure 76 depicts one embodiment of the Metarocker™ sole support 446. This support 446 comprises a first support member 448 with an upper part 452 and a lower part 456; and a second support member 450 with a support part 458 and a lower part 460. The support is designed to flex and release with each stride, to enhance propulsion.
The abstract of the invention is included below, together with an image of one the many HOKA footwear models, specifically the Speedgoat 6 GTX for women.
A footwear component that includes a sole including a recessed area and a support member positioned in the recessed area, where the support member includes a main support, a front support that extends at least partially over a front end of the main support, and a rear support that extends at least partially below a rear end of the main support. A cushion member is positioned between the front support and the main support or the rear support and the main support, where the cushion member is configured to control movement of the front support or the rear support. [Abstract US12022912B2]
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* Note - Originally, the brand name HOKA, meaning "to fly" in Maori, was called HOKA One One - "to fly over the earth",pronounced "Oh-nay, Oh-nay", a termwhich means "earth" in Maori. Thus, you will find that some of the early models are prefixed with the original brand name HOKA One One.
Designed at the Italian Institute of Technology (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia), the fully passive (motorless), anthropomorphic and flexible SoftFoot Pro was invented to improve the state of the art in prosthetic feet, preferably fitted to a human limb, but also compatible with a humanoid robot. Specifically, the Softfoot Pro was designed to remedy the incidence of falls among lower limb prosthetic users (LLPUs), 50% of whom experience falls at least once a year, resulting in additional injury (Pace, A., Dimitrov, H., Jakubowitz, E. et al. (2026).
Indeed, according to the inventors, the prior art of prosthetic feet is generally too rigid and/or heavy to readily negotiate uneven or rugged terrain. In turn, stepping on obstacles risks destabilizing and altering the LLPUs’ gait, invoking a fall or long-term sequela such as osteoarthritis. Surface obstacles also place an extra burden on the cognition of LLPUs in the effort to alter their stride, and the extra attention required to successfully negotiate uneven-surface hurdles. Thus, the SoftFoot Pro was created to conform to uneven surfaces, even slippery ones. Ultimately, the SoftFoot Pro was designed to respond to any surface, while creating a comfortable and easy stride for LLPUs, and minimizing cognitive stress. Because of its designed anthropomorphic flexibility, emulating the tarsus, metatarsus, and phalanges skeletal anatomy, as well as the plantar fascia, the SoftFoot Pro also facilitates the performance of everyday tasks, such as bending on one knee to tie a shoelace.
The SoftFoot Pro invention is recited in the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) patent WO2026003774A1, titled Robotic foot. The patent was awarded on February 1st, 2026, to seven inventors: Antonio Bicchi, Manuel Giuseppe Catalano, Giorgio Grioli, Manel Barbarossa, Emanuele Sessa, Anna Pace and Matteo Crotti. The joint applicants were Fondazione Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia, in Genoa, Italy, and the Università Di Pisa, in Italy.
Below, the patent Figure 1 depicting a perspective view of the SoftFoot Pro (1), together with the Abstract of the invention, indexing the drawing. In a nutshell, the patent Figure 1 depicts the titanium mobile arch system (4) of the foot (1), with a hinge (6), defining a rotational axis, and connected to a joint (2), receiving the fitted human limb or humanoid device. The arch system (4) is connected to five parallel plastic chains, forming a surface contact organ(3). Each of the parallel plastic chains is made of high-strength automotive plastic modules, each connected via an inextensible transversal cable, attached at the heel (5) of the foot (1). The plastic chains have two rotational axes (3a) and (3b), with pairs of plastic links between each module. The inextensible cable system is meant to emulate the biomechanical windlass phenomenon, which stiffens the fascia to stabilize the arch by evenly distributing forces to the ground, whereas the plastic links provide flexibility to the modules, also functioning as shock absorbers.
A foot (1) is configured to rest on a walkable surface (1b) and comprising: a joint (2) to a prosthesis (1a); a contact organ (3) defining a deformable contact area of the foot (1) with the walkable surface (1b); a first body (4) defining the frontal arch of the foot (1), a first end (4a) proximal to the joint (2) and an additional first end (4b); a second body (5) defining the heel of the foot (1), a second extremity (5a) proximal to the joint (2) and an additional second extremity (5b) distal to the attachment (2); an ankle hinge (6) defining a main axis (6a) of mutual rotation between the first body (4), second body (5) and joint (2) and interposed between both first extremities (4a, 4b) and second extremities (5a,5b). The foot also involves the contact organ (3) connecting the additional ends (4b, 5b); and also first elastic means (7) and second elastic means (8) connecting the first end (4a) and second end (5a) to the joint (2), respectively.
[Abstract WO2026003774A1]
Below, the close-up image of a marketed SoftFoot embodiment, together with an Italian Institute of Technology (ITT) Youtube video.
Neo is a mechanically human-safe robot. This means that a patented solution has been invented to make Neo capable of interacting safely with humans in an uncontrolled residential environment. Indeed, most robots operating in factories perform repetitive tasks in highly controlled environments (e.g., lifting heavy objects from one conveyor belt to another). These are programmed tasks where it would be dangerous for humans to inadvertently come between the robot’s task and its movement path. This would be dangerous because industrial robots are unequipped with means to react to the unexpected presence of a human. The high-gear-ratio motors driving industrial robotic movement would require a combination of dozens of sensors, each with complex control algorithms, which would be far too costly to enable the robots to safely interact with humans. Thus, in an industrial setting, a human could not push a robotic arm driven by a high-gear-ratio [1:200] motor, because even the smallest movement would create huge resistance from the motor, termed back-drivability, which is essentially impossible. According to patent specification: the insensitivity of a driving motor system scales with the square of the gear ratio.
The human-safe patented solution invented for Neo, the 1X housekeeper robot, is a cable-driven, very high-torque, direct-drive [1:1 gear ratio] motor with a Halbach magnetic array structure. This patented design lightens the weight of the motor, making limb movement far more accurate, and far better adapted to humanoid-sized robotic limb movement. Most importantly, the patented low-gear-ratio design enables humans to interact with the robot. In other words, a human can apply force and influence the movement of a robot’s limbs, without creating resistance, thus preventing the robot from harming a human. Additionally, direct human interaction with the robot’s motorized limbs reduces the need for costly sensors and their associated algorithms, to control the robot's limb movement.
The human-safe motor design invention embodied in Neo, the 1X household robot, is recited in a family of four patents, including the US utility patent application US20200083763, titled Human-like direct drive robot. The inventors on record are Phuong Nguyen and Bernt Ølivind Børnich, founder and CEO of 1X*, the company that produces and markets NEO, in Hayward, California. The patent application was published March 12th, 2020, and abandoned.
Below, the extracted patent Figure 6, together with the Abstract of the invention. The patent Figure 6 depicts a human-like robot 400, and more specifically, the robot’s torso 410. The robot's torso 410 further indexes two upper limbs 404, elbow joints 408, and one of the llmb portions 406, comprising a hollow sleeve that houses an (undepicted) ball bearing system for the cable system that drives the transmission of motor torque to the limbs.
An image of Neo’s fingers, stripped of their 3D polymer “skin” and knitted cover, is also included below the abstract.
The present disclosure relates to a motor, in particular a compact, lightweight, and high-torque motor. The rotor comprises a Halbach array magnet structure in which the projected magnetic field is directed toward the rotation axis of the motor and the stator comprises a plurality of poles within the Halbach array. The individual magnets making up the Halbach array have a thickness in the radial direction, with respect to the rotation axis, which is determined to be the minimum thickness required to stop demagnetization of the magnets when the maximum current to generate peak torque output of the motor is driven through the stator at the maximum expected temperature at which the motor will be used.
Neo, the robot, weighs about 66 pounds and measures 5.6 feet. Neo is whisper-quiet at about 22 decibels, which is quieter than a refrigerator. The robot runs on a battery for about four hours, and then recharges in about 20 minutes. Neo is completely wrapped in a 3D-printed polymer "skin", and a washable knitted suit, which makes Neo completely pinch-proof. This means that no one can get their fingers or hair stuck in the robots moving mechanical parts. Neo also wears customizable shoes. The video below shows Neo from the inside out.
The Norwegian start-up, 1X, backed by Open AI, released its first bipedal, humanoid housekeeper robot, on April 30th, 2026. The robot’s name is Neo.
As an interactive, residential home assistant, Neo is intended to automate household tasks. Tasks programmed for Neo to autonomously execute, such as cleaning, fetching (eg., a glass of water), loading and unloading the dishwasher, answering the front door, vacuuming, taking out the trash, unloading packages from a car trunk, cracking walnuts, plus more. Indeed, almost any task you can think of, since Noe learns by watching.
For Neo to learn the new complex tasks, you might schedule a 1X Expert Mode Session, where a remote company technician walks Neo through all the new tasks—in Virtual Reality, using Neo’s camera eyes. A process that raises controversy, considering that the remote technician, or anyone else, is gaining access, through the robot's camera eyes, to the inside of your home, during the expert session. To which 1X responds: "You have to be OK with this, for the product to be useful."
The video below shows some of what Neo is capable of doing.
Neo robots are produced at a 58,000-square-foot facility in Hayward, California. The first vertically integrated humanoid factory, plus 200 workers. In other words, this facility produces everything, from raw materials to finished robot, including motors, sensors, batteries and structural transmission system. The company plans to ship 10,000 robots in 2026, the first year of operations, and then scale to 100,000 robots in 2027. Neo costs 20,000 USD or 499 USD per month. You can order one with a 200 USD deposit.
The members of the European Inventor Awards Jury included both Young Inventor Award and former European Inventor Award recipients.
Wolfgang M. Heckl (Chair) is the former Director General of the Deutsches Museum in Munich. He is Emeritus of Excellence at the Munich Technical University, Senior Excellence Faculty, and holds the Oskar von Miller Chair for science communication at the Technical University in Munich, where he researches molecular self-organization in nanotechnology.
Mark Kennedy Bantugon is the recipient of an EPO Young Inventor Award in 2025. Bantugon is an aeronautical engineer, materials scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur, specializing in sustainable innovation. He established Pili AdheSeal Inc., to bring to market an aircraft sealant and adhesive made from Pili Tree resin agricultural waste.
Catia Bastioli is the recipient of a European Inventor Award in 2007. Bastioli is CEO and President of the Novamont Group (acquired by Versalis, part of Eni, in 2023).
Esben Beck is the recipient of a European Inventor Award in 2019. Beck is an inventor, entrepreneur, and founder of Stingray Marine Solutions.
Nuria Espallargas is the recipient of a European Inventor Award in 2022. Espallargas is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
Joachim Fiedler is the recipient of a European Inventor Award in 2022. Fiedler studied at the University of the Arts in Berlin and worked as a professional cellist in several orchestras and ensembles.
Marta Karczewicz is therecipient of the European Patent Office, life-time achievement award in 2019. Karczewicz is Vice-President of Technology at Qualcomm, where she has driven advances in data coding algorithms since 2006.
Gaute Munch is the recipient of a European Inventor Award in 2018. Munch joined the LEGO Group as an electronic engineer in 1997, and currently leads the company’s electrical and digital product safety.
Marie Perrin is the recipient of an EPO Young Inventor Award in 2025. Perrin is a chemist and entrepreneur. She is currently Pioneer Fellow at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH), in Zurich, leading the startup project REEcover. A project that invokes an innovative process to recover rare earth elements from electronic waste.
Laura van't Veer is the recipient of a European Inventor Award in 2015. She is Chief Research Officer and the co-founder of Agendia, a molecular diagnostics company focused solely on breast cancer. She is full professor of Laboratory Medicine at the University California, in San Francisco.
Roujia Wen is the recipient of an EPO Young Inventor Award in 2025. She is the co-founder of Seabound, a company that builds modular, retrofittable carbon capture systems for cargo ships.
The European Patent Office (EPO) invites the public to vote for the Finalist who will receive the Popular Prize. The Popular Prize winner, solely decided by the public, will be announced on the occasion of the European Inventor Awards Ceremony, to be held in Berlin, on July 2nd, 2026.
The rules for voting are the following:
•You may vote for one to three inventors each day until the votes are counted, during the Awards Ceremony on July 2nd.
•Click on your first choice and then follow the prompts to accept the voting conditions.
•Registration to vote requires an authenticated email, or a social media account, the first time you vote. Click below to vote for your favorite inventors/inventions!
On July 2nd, 2026, the prestigious European Inventor Awards will be conferred upon inventors competing in one of four categories: Industry, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Research, and Non-members of the European Patent Organization. This year, the ceremony will take place in Berlin, Germany.
Below, the list of the 12 finalists and their competing inventions, in each of the four categories.
Industry •Giuseppe Crippa†, Roberto Crippa, Stefano Felici, Riccardo Vettori, Raffaele Vallauri, Flavio Maggioni and team (Italy). Invention: Probe card advancements for testing microchips. Sample patents EP2984492B1 - Testing head of electronic devices.
EP3794357B1 - High-performance probe card in high-frequency. EP3707519B1 - Contact probe for a testing head for testing high-frequency devices.
•Evangelos Eleftheriou and team (Switzerland/Greece). Invention: Improvements to the stability and reliability of digital data storage. Sample patents EP2277173B1- Error correction coding of longitudinal position information. EP2513798B1 - Reducing access contention in flash-based memory systems. EP2260491B1 - Error correction capability for longitudinal position data in a tape storage system.
•Angeliki Triantafyllou (Greece/Sweden) Invention: Improved enzymatic process to prepare tasty oat drinks with a creamy mouthfeel, for the lactose-intolerant and as an alternative to the high energy footprint of dairy milk production. Sample patent
Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) •Jan Čmelík and team (Czech Republic). Invention: Electrospinning of nanofibers to scale the reliable manufacture of nanofibers used for various industrial and medical applications. Sample patents EP2291555B1- Method and device for spinning of polymer composition in electrostatic field. EP2732079B1 - Method for application of liquid polymeric material onto spinning cords and a device for production of nanofibers through electrostatic spinning.
•Przemek Ben Paczek and team (Poland). Invention: Magnetic propulsion retrofitting technology to upgrade rails. Sample patents EP3841249B1 - Magnetic levitation railway system. EP3938577B1 - Vacuum tube railway system.
•Franck Zal (France) Invention: Captured the oxygen-carrying molecule M101 in marine worm hemoglobin for the preservation of transplant organs and other medical therapeutic uses. Sample patent EP3008166B1 - Sand worm lyophilisate and uses thereof. EP2748306B1 - Use of annelid hemoglobin for maintaining stem cells in the undifferentiated state. EP2184977B1- Use of a globin, a globin protomer or an extracellular hemoglobin for the preservation of organs, tissues, organ and tissue cells.
Research • Sir Adrian V.S. Hill (Ireland/United Kingdom) Invention: Invention of an adjuvant for the development of a highly effective malaria vaccine. Sample patent EP2945649 B1- Composition and uses thereof.
•Paula Videira and team (Portugal) Invention: The L2a5 monoclonal antibody for identifying and targeting cancer cells. Sample patent EP3743726B1 - L2a5 antibody or functional fragment thereof against tumor antigens.
Non-EPO Countries •Yu Haijun and Xie Yinghao (China) Invention: Smart battery recycling, using "reverse-positioning" technology to convert spent batteries into ultra-high-quality new cathode materials. Sample patent EP4206141B1 - Method for preparing lithium nickel cobalt manganate by means of reverse positioning of power battery and use thereof.
•Emily Morris and Thorsten Stoesser (United States/Germany). Invention: Novel distributed hydropower generation systems. Sample patent EP3682107B1- Hydro transition systems and methods of using the same.
•Aníbal Montalva Rodríguez and Miguel Ángel Fernández Donoso (Chile). Invention: Sample patent: Living biofilter for efficient air purification Sample patent EP3345671B1 - Systems for decontamination by means of a biofilter for retaining and recycling pollutants of particulate material from combustion fumes, and method thereof.
