The European Patent Office (EPO) honoured exceptional inventors from Austria, France, Japan, the Netherlands and Spain with the European Inventor Award 2019 at a ceremony in Vienna.
The laureates are recognised for their outstanding achievements in plastic recycling, cancer diagnostics, rechargeable battery technology, marine antifouling and DNA testing.
“The imagination, intellect and expertise on display at this year’s European Inventor Award are inspirational; all of the finalists and winners are pushing boundaries and achieving new heights in their respective disciplines,” said EPO President António Campinos at the Award ceremony. “These inventors’ stories also show how patent protection can help turn innovation into market success. What’s more, intellectual property rights are fuelling the European economy – industries that make high use of patents, trademarks and design rights contribute significantly to GDP, trade and job creation in Europe.”
Held at the Wiener Stadthalle, the Award ceremony, now in its 14th edition, was attended by some 600 guests from the fields of intellectual property, politics, business, science and academia. The finalists and winners were selected by an independent, international jury from a pool of hundreds of inventors and teams of inventors put forward for this year’s Award. The recipient of the Popular Prize was chosen by the general public through an online vote in the run-up to the ceremony.
The laureates of the European Inventor Award 2019 are:
- Industry – Klaus Feichtinger and Manfred Hackl (Austria) – Higher-performance plastic recycling
- Research – Jérôme Galon (France) – Immunoscore®, a clearer cancer test
- Non-EPO countries – Akira Yoshino (Japan) – Lithium-ion battery and its evolution
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – Rik Breur (Netherlands) – Marine antifouling fibre wrap
- Popular Prize and Lifetime achievement – Margarita Salas Falgueras (Spain) – DNA amplification for genomics
In a series of publications (every Monday), we will present to you in detail the winner in each of the categories.
Source: European Patent Office
