European Inventor Award


The European Inventor Award, are presented annually by the European Patent Office, sometimes supported by the respective Presidency of the Council of the European Union and by the European Commission, to inventors who have made a significant contribution to innovation, economy and society, predominantly in Europe. Inventions from all technological fields are considered for this award. The winners in each category are presented with an award shaped like a sail. There is no cash prize associated with the award, however there is a cash prize for all 3 of the Young Inventors Prize finalists.

Award categories and prizes

The European Inventor Award is presented in the following five categories and two prizes:
  • Industry
  • Research
  • Non-European countries
  • Small and medium-sized enterprises
  • Lifetime Achievement
  • Young Inventors Prize
  • Popular Prize

    Nomination and selection

Each year the European Patent Office calls on its patent examiners, on examiners at the patent offices in the EPO's member states and on public at large to propose inventions for the award that were patented at the European Patent Office and have made a significant contribution towards innovation, economy and society in Europe.
A short list of nominees is then drawn up from the proposals and submitted to an international jury. The independent jury selects three inventors in each category for the final round, and eventually chooses the winners.

Awards per year

2006

The first European Inventor of the Year awards ceremony took place at the AutoWorld Museum in Brussels, Belgium on 3 May 2006. Prizes were presented in six categories.
The 2006 winners were:
  • Industry: Zbigniew Janowicz and Cornelis Hollenberg, who invented a method for making proteins in Pichia yeast.
  • Research: Peter Grünberg for his discovery of the giant magnetoresistance effect.
  • Non-EPO countries: Larry Gold and Craig Tuerk, who discovered that nucleic acids can bind a protein to potentially intercept other proteins that cause diseases like age-related macular degeneration.
  • SMEs: Stephen P.A. Fodor, Michael C. Pirrung, J. Leighton Read, and Lubert Stryer who invented the DNA microarray.
  • New EU member states: John Starrett, Joanne Bronson, John Martin, Muzammil Mansuri, and David Tortolani, for their prodrugs of phosphonates.
  • Lifetime Achievement: Federico Faggin, for inventing the microprocessor.

    2007

The second European Inventor of the Year awards ceremony took place at the International Congress Center in Munich, Germany on 18 April 2007. Prizes were presented to inventors - individuals and teams - in five categories.
The 2007 winners were:
The third European Inventor of the Year awards ceremony took place in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 6 May 2008, marking Slovenia's presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2008. Prizes were presented to inventors - individuals and teams - in five categories.
The 2008 winners were:
  • Industry: Norbert Enning, Ulrich Klages, Heinrich Timm, Gundolf Kreis, Alois Feldschmid, Christian Dornberg and Karl Reiter, Audi for revolutionising automotive manufacturing by making car frames lighter and safer through the use of aluminium.
  • Research: Douglas Anderson, Robert Henderson, and Roger Lucas of Scotland's SME Optos for developing a new laser scanning technology for the eye which allows powerful but pain-free examination of the retina.
  • Non-EPO countries: Philip S. Green, SRI International 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.
  • SMEs: Douglas Anderson, Robert Henderson, and Roger Lucas of Scotland's SME Optos for developing a new laser scanning technology for the eye which allows powerful but pain-free examination of the retina.
  • Lifetime Achievement: Erik De Clercq, University of Leuven for landmark contributions to antiviral treatment, including developing the drug cocktail for HIV/AIDS which has become the therapy gold standard of the early 21st century.

    2009

The European Inventor of the Year awards ceremony took place at Prague Castle, in Prague, Czech Republic on 28 April 2009.
The 2009 winners were:
  • Industry: Jürg Zimmermann and Brian Drucker for inventing an effective drug to combat chronic myelogenous leukaemia.
  • Research: Joseph Le Mer for inventing a heat exchanger of such a brilliantly simple design that it makes heating systems both inexpensive and energy-efficient.
  • Non-EPO countries: Zhou Yiqing and his team for an anti-malaria drug based on a herbal agent, which has been instrumental in saving hundreds of thousands of lives.
  • SMEs: Joseph Le Mer for inventing a heat exchanger of such a brilliantly simple design that it makes heating systems both inexpensive and energy-efficient.
  • Lifetime Achievement: Adolf Goetzberger for his work on the commercial use of solar energy, helping to make solar cells a viable alternative to fossil fuels.

    2010

Renamed the European Inventor Award, the 2010 awards ceremony took place in Madrid, Spain on 28 April 2010. The ceremony at the Eurostars Madrid Tower Hotel was attended by Their Royal Highnesses Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia of Asturias.
The 2010 winners were:
  • Industry: Albert Markendorf and Raimund Loser, whose portable 3D scanning and measuring system opened up a new level of accuracy in industrial measuring systems and revolutionised the field.
  • Research: Jürgen Pfitzer and Helmut Nägele, who made a breakthrough by developing an easily formable, biodegradable organic polymer.
  • Non-EPO countries: Sanjai Kohli and Steven Chen, whose work paved the way for global positioning systems that became used commercially and are a part of our everyday lives.
  • Non-EPO countries: Ben Wiens and Danny Epps, who developed electrochemical fuel cells which are now a commercially successful alternative to fossil fuels.
  • SMEs: Jürgen Pfitzer and Helmut Nägele, who made a breakthrough by developing an easily formable, biodegradable organic polymer.
  • Lifetime Achievement: Wolfgang Krätschmer, who discovered a whole new field of research in physics.

    2011

The 2011 award ceremony took place at the historic Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, Hungary.
The 2011 winners were:
  • Industry: Ann Lambrechts, Bekaert. Her invention opened up a world of new architectural possibilities by improving the bending strength of reinforced concrete structures. The steel fibre elements that she developed greatly increase the tensile strength of concrete, reduce construction time, and have enabled many spectacular new structures such as the Gotthard tunnel.
  • Research: Christine Van Broeckhoven, Vlaams Interuniversitair Instituut voor Biotechnologie. Her pioneering method for identifying disease genes in Alzheimer's sufferers paved the way for developing modern drugs and treatments to combat Alzheimer's disease. Each of the genes and proteins that Broeckhoven has identified acts as potential "target" for researchers working to develop treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.
  • Non-EPO countries: Ashok Gadgil, Vikas Garud, University of California, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, WaterHealth International. Using gravity and a carefully planned hydraulics design to ensure even water flow, their ultraviolet disinfection device requires only a 40 watt UV light bulb to disinfect 1,000 litres of water per hour. The water purification device has been installed in more than ten countries worldwide, delivering clean water to over two million people.
  • SMEs: Jens Dall Bentzen, Dall Energy Aps. His special low-emission furnace burns biofuels with a moisture content of up to 60% and is thus ideal for eco-friendly, highly efficient and hence inexpensive power generation from biomass in factories and production plants.
  • Lifetime Achievement: Per-Ingvar Brånemark. He is the pioneer of osseointegration, now a widely practised medical method based on titanium implants, which creates a stable connection between the implant and bone. Today it is a standard implant technique among dentists and is widely used in reconstructive surgery. Millions of people worldwide have benefited from his landmark method.

    2012

The 2012 award ceremony was held in Copenhagen at the Royal Danish Playhouse in the presence of Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.
The 2012 winners were:
  • Industry: Jan Tøpholm, Søren Westermann, and Svend Vitting Andersen, for their tailor-made hearing aid.
  • Research: Gilles Gosselin, Jean-Louis Imbach, and Martin L. Bryant, for their new drug for hepatitis B treatment.
  • Non-EPO countries: John O' Sullivan, Graham Daniels, Terence Percival, Diethelm Ostry, and John Deane, for their contribution to wireless local area networks for high speed data transfer.
  • SMEs: Manfred Stefener, Oliver Freitag, and Jens Müller, for their portable direct methanol fuel cell.
  • Lifetime Achievement: Josef Bille, for his device for laser eye surgery.