Press Trust of India
Lisbon, June 9: The European Patent Office Thursday facilitated six inventors from across the world who have made exceptional contribution to social development, technological progress and economic growth. The exceptional inventors from Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US received the European Inventor Award 2016 at a ceremony here. Indian-American inventor Arogyaswami Paulraj and his team of researchers, who created MIMO (multiple input multiple output) – a wireless networking technology that is fundamental for a faster mobile internet connectivity was one of the finalists but could not make the cut.
Dutch-German engineer Anton van Zanten won the Lifetime achievement category for ground-breaking contributions to automotive safety systems. Tue Johannessen, Ulrich Quaade and team (Denmark), Alim-Louis Benabid (France), Bernhard Gleich, Jürgen Weizenecker and team (Germany) and Robert Langer (the US) are winners in the other four categories. With 64 per cent of the public vote, UK scientist Helen Lee took home the Popular Prize, for her invention of diagnostic kits for resource-poor regions. EPO President Benoît Battistelli said : “The inventions recognised with this year’s award give new hope to people suffering from disease, increase diagnostic efficiency, protect the environment and save thousands of lives on the road.
The significance and impact of the work of these inventors underline the importance of the European patent system for the benefit of economic strength and technological progress in Europe,” Battistelli added. Portugal’s Prime Minister António Costa and European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas inaugurated the award ceremony.
