Background:
The most esteemed honor for inventors in Europe, the European Inventor Award, is annually presented to a handful of brilliant inventive minds. Since its launch in 2006, the European Inventor Award is presented by the European Patent Office, in collaboration with the European Commission and the Country holding the EU presidency at the time of the award ceremony.
The award brings tribute to inventive persons or teams whose revolutionary efforts offer answers to the challenges of life and hence add to improvement and affluence.
It is a purely symbolic award and does not incorporate any prize money.
Despite the fact that this award bears no direct financial gain to its recipients, the honor and prestige associated with it is significant. When Jens Dall Bentzen, winner of the SME's categories, was asked what effect winning the award would have, he answered: "The end customers, at least in Denmark, are very conservative in their choice of their big investments , and now, having a reference plan (European Inventor Award), will loosen up this conservativeness. With the award it would be easier to convince customers."
After listening to the EPO interviews with the various winners, it became clear that the golden threat in the driving force behind all of these inventors are raw passion for their field of specialisation, and a real empathy with the world around them. Inventing to make life better for others!
EPO president, Benoit Battistelli commented that, "European Patents play an important role in the cycle from idea to market success. The winners of the European Inventor Award have benefited from the patent system, not only coming up with breakthroughs in their technical fields, but supporting the development of their companies or institutions; they have actively contributed to job creation to the improvement of people's daily lives.
The 2011 honors:
Both the public and patent examiners participate in the nomination process.
The champions are then selected from the nominees by a panel of esteemed jurors, including the European Parliament's President.
This year's honors were presented to inventors ranging a wide spectrum: from water sanitization with a UV-light, to identifying disease genes in Alzheimer sufferers, to low-emission bio-fuel furnaces, to steel fiber reinforced concrete and titanium implants for dental reconstructive surgery.
The winners of the 2011 European Patent Award, in their respective categories, were:
1. Per-Ingvar Branemark (Sweden) ~ Lifetime Achievement (Titanium Implants);
2. Ann Lambrechts (Belgium) ~ Industry (Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete);
3. Jens Dall Bentzen (Denmark) ~ SME's (Low-emission bio-fuel furnace);
4. Christine Van Broekhoven (Belgium) ~ Research (Identifying disease genes in Alzheimer's);
5. Ashok Gadgil and Vikas Garud (USA/India) ~ Non-European Countries (UV water disinfection device).
The Inventors:
1. Per-Ingvar Branemark
Branemark is a Swedish orthopedic surgeon and research professor at Gothenburg University, Sweden. He is known as the "father of modern dental implantology" – http://www.doctorspiller.com/implants.htm
Branemark is honored for his discovery and application of osseointegration, which is the biological synthesis of bone and foreign matter. In practice, this discovery led to a revolution in reconstructive surgical dentistry.
Branemark has received numerous honorary doctor degrees from universities worldwide. In addition he has been honored by many dental and medical societies globally.
The European Inventor Award (Lifetime achievement) has been awarded to Branemark to honor him for the benefit that millions of people worldwide have enjoyed due to his outstanding invention.
2. Ann Lambrechts
Lambrechts is the head R&D at Bekaert, a global technological leader headquartered in Belgium.
Lambrechts has been honored for her development of Dramix® steel fibres, which is widely used in the construction industry, for concrete reinforcement. Lambrechts development has opened up a world of new application possibilities in architecture and construction. The application of Lambrechts' invention "increases the bending tensile strength of concrete by 32%, and ensures improved anchorage for a better crack control and anchorage" - http://www.bekaert.com/en/About%20us/Press/News/11-05-19%20Bekaert%20researcher%20Ann%20Lambrechts%20wins%20European%20Inventor%20Award%202011.aspx
Lambrechts' achievement has been honored by the European Inventor Award (Industry), for its contribution to the enablement of numerous spectacular new structures, such as the Gotthard tunnel (third longest road tunnel in the world).
3. Jens Dall Bentzen
Jens Dall Bentzen is the architect behind a revolutionary biomass furnace.
Through Bentzen's invention, energy can be derived from both dry and moist biomass with a moist content of up to 60%. Traditional biomass combustion requires dried material, prior to combustion.
Furthermore, Bentzen's furnace has a considerably lower emission rate – about 90-95% less than that of traditional furnaces. In addition, the whole furnace structure can operate without any filters and still meet the most recent emission regulations.
In summation, Bentzen has developed a biomass furnace that accommodates a bigger variety of bio fuel, has reduced maintenance costs, and lower emission rates.
For Bentzen's contribution in overcoming various obstacles in the use of bio fuels, the European Inventor Award (SME's) has been handed to him.
In an interview recorded by the European Patent Office, Bentzen said that "…the Inventor Award is good for all Europe to get the awareness of invention. The need for new inventions (not only) improve quality of life, but also the competitiveness of Europe." - EPO.
4. Christine Van Broekhoven
Christine Van Broekhoven is a molecular biologist, professor in Molecular genetics at the University of Antwerp, and she also joined politics for a brief stint, but resigned from politics in 2010 to concentrate on scientific research.
Van Broekhoven has done in depth research on neurodegenerative brain diseases. In particular, her groundbreaking work related to the detection of disease genes in Alzheimer's patients has led to the development of various modern drugs and treatments to curb Alzheimer's disease.
For her exceptional accomplishments in research, she has once again been honored – this time as winner of the European Inventor Award in the category Research.
5. Ashok Gadgil & Vikas Garud
Ashok Gadgil is lecturer at UC Berkeley and is also the Director of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory. Furthermore, Gadgil is also involved in the development of numerous inventions/devices for use in developmental aid projects – his energy efficient cook stoves, for instance, are used by refugees in Darfur.
Ex-colleague of Gadgil, Vikas Garud, in currently employed by H2O Innovation USA, where he focuses his research on applications of membrane processes for water and waste water treatment.
Gadgil, with the help of Garud, developed an avant-garde method for water purification ~ overcoming the cost intensive and infrastructural problems which exists in large parts of the developing world. Gadgil and Garud's devise has been established in more than 10 countries and it delivers clean water to more than two million people.
For their remarkable invention, they have been honored with the European Invention Award in the category of Non-European countries.
Conclusion
In the words of the Hungarian president, Pal Schmidt, "This award highlights that Europe continues to be a leader in technical innovation".
Not only is the European Invention Award an opportunity to celebrate the growing role of Europe in the field of invention, but it also brings a focus to the unquestionable importance of invention for the material progress of humanity.
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