Europe's Top Inventors

The European Inventor of The Year Awards honors inventors of the best patented inventions in research and industry. Antiviral treatment, aluminium car frame, revolutionary eye scan and robot surgery were all honored with the European Inventor of the Year 2008 award. Erik De Clercq of the University of Leuven (Belgium) won Lifetime Achievement for his landmark contributions to antiviral treatment, including the development of the drug cocktail for AIDS which has become the gold standard of our day. Audi's Norbert Enning, Ulrich Klages, Heinrich Timm, Gundolf Kreis, Alois Feldschmid, Christian Dornberg and Karl Reiter (Germany) won the Industry category for revolutionising automotive manufacturing by making car frames lighter and safer through the use of aluminium. In the SMEs and Research category Douglas Anderson, Robert Henderson and Roger Lucas of Scotland's SME Optos (United Kingdom) for developing a new laser scanning technology for the eye which allows powerful but pain-free examination of the retina. In the Non-European Inventors category, SRI International's Philip S. Green (United States) for developing a robotic surgical system that has helped to improve surgery in Europe by allowing surgeons to perform complex procedures with the highest precision. Photo Credit: European Patent Office