Fifteen scientists, inventors, and entrepreneurs have been nominated for a 2012 European Inventor Award (EIA). The winners will be chosen by the European Patent Office (EPO) based on their contributions to technological, social and economic progress.
Finalists "Lifetime Achievement" Category
The Austrian engineer and entrepreneur, Doctor Josef Theurer, has filed for some 1,050 patent families throughout his life, while establishing one of the most successful international companies in Austria, Plasser & Theurer - the world market leader for railway track-laying machines.
Professor Josef Bille from the University Heidelberg in Germany has filed almost 100 patents in the field of ophthalmology and is considered the "father" of laser eye corrections. Bille's ground-breaking invention of laser eye surgery (LASIK) has corrected near-sightedness, far-sightedness, and astigmatism for millions of patients worldwide.
Italian entrepreneur Mario Moretti Polegato, founder of the company GEOX. Polegato's determination to find a better solution to smelling feet has led to an improved vapor-permeable shoe that turned the footwear industry on its head.
Photo Credit: Nominees for the European Inventor Award 2012: Josef Theurer, Josef Bille, Mario Moretti Polegato ©European Patent Organization 2012
Nominees "Industry" Category
Together with Doctor Klaus Hallermayer at Roche Diagnostics, the German cardiologist Professor Hugo Katus has developed a new blood test which revolutionized the diagnosis of heart attacks - currently the leading cause of death worldwide. The so-called Troponin T antibody test brought a new level of accuracy to the detection of heart diseases and has become the "gold standard" for cardiologists worldwide.
Dr. Jaap Haartsen from the Netherlands invented Bluetooth while at LM Ericsson Telephone. Used in more than two billion devices worldwide, Bluetooth has changed not only the way electronic devices communicate with each other, but also how people connect and communicate.
The Danish team of Jan Tøpholm, Søren Westermann and Svend Vitting Andersen has developed a computer-aided method to manufacture individually-fitted, comfortable hearing-aid devices. The unique stereo-lithographic manufacturing method is known as CAMISHA (Computer-Aided Manufacturing of Individual Shells for Hearing Aids), and it revolutionized the hearing aid world immediately.
Photo Credit: Nominees for the European Inventor Award 2012: Hugo Katus, Jaap Haartsen, Jan Tøpholm, Søren Westermann and Svend Vitting Andersen ©European Patent Organization 2012
Nominees "Research" Category
Professor Jason Chin (UK) and Professor Oliver Rackham (Australia) created a way to incorporate unnatural amino acids into proteins, enabling molecular biologists to control and elucidate the functions of proteins in cells with unprecedented precision. Their ground-breaking invention has the potential to revolutionize the way patients are treated in protein-like therapeutics, such as insulin treatment, as well as to detect prostate, ovarian, and colon cancer.
One hundred times more infectious than HIV, hepatitis B is a particularly recalcitrant disease that each year affects 350 million people chronically worldwide, and has proven resistant to most treatments, until Doctor Gilles Gosselin, Professor Jean-Louis Imbach and Doctor Martin L. Bryant (France) developed a drug that is more effective than any other of its kind. The drug has been successfully commercialized.
Professor Mark van Loosdrecht, Doctor Merle Krista de Kreuk and Doctor Joseph Heijnen (The Netherlands) invented an advanced waste-water treatment technology which uses aerobic granular biomass and is already in commercial application. The so-called NEREDA process reduces nitrogen and phosphate levels by 95% without relying on extra chemicals.
Photo Credit: Nominees for the European Inventor Award 2012: Jason Chin, Gilles Gosselin, Mark van Loosdrecht and Merle Krista de Kreuk ©European Patent Organization 2012
Nominees "Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)" Category
Doctor Manfred Stefener (Germany), founder of Smart Fuel Cell AG (SFC), Oliver Freitag and Doctor Jens Müller created the first fuel cell for portable use, the so-called direct methanol fuel cell or DMFC. Today SFC's fuel cells are used in a vast array of applications including traffic management, security and surveillance systems, as well as powering isolated environmental data stations. SFC has sold more than 24,000 fuel cells since it was founded in 2000.
A passionate yachtsman and former three-time winner of the Admirals Cup, Doctor Stefan Lehnert (Germany), aimed at improving his sails, which resulted in the development of ETFE- (Ethylene-Tetrafluoroethylene) based roof and cladding solutions. These cladding systems, based on plastic cushions filled with air, have since pushed the boundaries of architecture and allowed the creation of highly innovative structures such as the Eden Project in England or the Beijing National Aquatics Center in China.
The French scientists Doctor Farouk Tedjar and Jean-Claude Foudraz have developed a novel solution to recycle lithium-ion batteries and recover 98% of the valuable metals they contain. Discarding these rechargeable batteries creates a huge amount of waste: about 180,000 to 200,000 tonnes per year in Europe alone.
Photo Credit: Nominees for the European Inventor Award 2012: Manfred Stefener, Stefan Lehnert, Farouk Tedjar and Jean-Claude Foudraz ©European Patent Organization 2012
Nominees "Non-European Countries" Category
Self-taught American scientist and social entrepreneur Doctor Stanford Ovshinsky developed NiMH batteries, which offer a clean-energy storage solution with record durability and double to triple the capacity of nickel-cadmium batteries of the same size. They have proven to be the battery of choice when it comes to the portable electronic device market. What is more, they enabled the hybrid and electric vehicle industry: More than 4.5 million hybrid electric vehicles with NiMH batteries have been sold worldwide with many more being built. Stanford Ovshinsky dedicated his life to research and innovation and holds more than 400 patents to his name.
Professor Federico Capasso (USA), Professor Jérôme Faist (Switzerland) and team invented the so-called Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs), which are able to reach areas of the electromagnetic spectrum previously untouched by laser light. Today, the ability of QCLs to produce wide bandwidths, high brightness, and high power very efficiently from a compact source has resulted in an array of unique products, from hand-held sensors for explosives detection and other toxic chemicals, to more powerful radar systems.
Doctor John O' Sullivan, Graham Daniels, Doctor Terence Percival, Diethelm Ostry and John Deane (Australia) created a technology that made the wireless LAN fast and robust so it could be as powerful as the cabled solutions of the time, which led to today's wireless networking technology (Wi-Fi).
Photo Credit: Nominees for the European Inventor Award 2012: Stanford Ovshinsky, Federico Capasso, Terence Percival and John O' Sullivan ©European Patent Organization 2012
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