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Breakthrough innovations honoured: The European Inventor of the Year
2006
Almost 400 visitors gathered at the spectacular Autoworld Museum in
Bussels on 3 May to see EPO President Alain Pompidou and European
Commission Vice President Günter Verheugen honour the European
Inventors of the Year 2006 at the first-ever awards ceremony
organised jointly by the two institutions.
Speaking at the award ceremony, EPO President Alain Pompidou said
that inventors "should be treated like pop stars". He described the
event as "historic". Commission Vice President Günter Verheugen said
he hoped that the awards would establish themselves as a "tradition"
in the Belgian capital and would one day be "as prestigious as the
Nobel Prize".
Among the guests were representatives from the European Commission,
the European Parliament, SIPO, OAPI, ARIPO and European industries
as well as Nicole Fontaine, the former president of the European
Parliament. The European media was also well represented with 30
print journalists and camera crews in attendance at the gala
following an announcement of the event at a joint press conference
in the Commission press room earlier in the day.
Awards were presented in six categories and the European Inventors
of the Year 2006 are:
Zbigniew Janowicz and Cornelis Hollenberg (Rhein Biotech,
Düsseldorf, Germany), who developed a process for producing foreign
proteins in Hansenula yeasts, a key component in the production of
hepatitis B vaccines. The new technology is now an acknowledged
standard, helping to combat the worldwide spread of hepatitis B,
which according to WHO estimates affects around a third of the
world's population. Over 450 million doses of the vaccine have now
been sold in 90 countries. They were honoured in the
category "Industry".
Stephen P.A. Fodor, Michael C. Pirrung, J. Leighton Read and Lubert
Stryer (Affymax, Netherlands), who revolutionised biotechnology with
their invention of the DNA chip while working for the Dutch company
Affymax's US research institute. They succeeded in storing vast
amounts of biological data on a small glass chip (polymer
synthesis). Today, as a result, a great many experiments can be
conducted at the same time on a single DNA chip. The invention is
primarily used to detect genetically determined disease. The jury
selected this team for the category "Small and Medium-sized
enterprises".
Peter Grünberg (Jülich Research Centre, Germany), who identified the
giant magnetoresistance effect (GMR), which allowed a fifty-fold
increase in the usable storage density of hard disks. The fruits of
his research in information technology are now to be found in nearly
all commercially available PCs, digital cameras and MP3 players. He
was declared the winner in the category "Universities and research
institutions".
John Edward Starrett, John Martin, David Tortulari, Joanne Bronson
and Mutzamil Mansurin (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic,
Prague) at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, who
succeeded in producing innovative prodrugs of phosphonates, which do
not unleash their full effect until transformed in the human body.
They are due to be deployed against viral infections and in tumour
therapy. The team took home the award for "New EU member states".
Larry Gold and Craig Tuerk (NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, Boulder, USA)
who, with their SELEX technology, invented an important screening
process used in biochemistry to find unique oligonucleotides capable
of binding to specific proteins that cause disease. This pioneering
invention led to an aptamer or drug called Macugen which has eye
treatment applications and is due to be approved in Europe soon. It
is hoped that SELEX technology will also result in drugs for cancer
therapy and prove useful in the fight against AIDS. The American
inventors were awarded the trophy in the category "Non-European
countries".
Federico Faggin (Italy; Santa Clara, USA) developed the first
microprocessor chip, allowing huge volumes of data to be processed
and unleashing a revolution in computer technology. He has filed 27
patent applications over the course of his distinguished career.
Federico Faggin was presented with the European Inventor of the Year
award for "Lifetime achievement".
The awards gala was held as part of a two-day conference, which
provided a unique forum for exploring the role of patents in
promoting innovation in Europe. Around 140 high-level experts from
Europe, the United States and Asia attended the conference to
discuss the future of the European patent system and the challenges
that China's emergence presents.
For more information, please visit: www.european-inventor.org
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