Brussels, 29/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 28 May 2013, the European Patent Office (EPO) announced the winners of the European Inventors Award for 2013.
Prizes were awarded in five categories, with Swiss inventor Martin Schadt receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award for investing the first flat liquid crystal display screen. The Industry Award went to Austrians Claus Hämmerle and Klaus Brüstle “for their invention of a damper system for the soft closing of furniture doors, drawers and wall cabinets”, known as Blumotion, says the EPO in a press release. The Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Award went to Pal Nyrén of Sweden for his invention of pyrosequencing - “a faster, less complicated and cheaper way of sequencing DNA strands. Its combination of lower costs and greater speeds has revolutionised the study of the buildings blocks of life and opened up new avenues for research into personalised treatment and cures for life-threatening diseases such as cancer”. The Research Award went to a Franco-Italian team from Paris South University headed by Patrick Couvreur, Barbara Stella, Véronique Rosilio and Luigi Cattel for the invention of nano-capsules, 70-times smaller than red blood cells and protected by a biodegradable coating, which destroy cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. The Non-European Countries Award went to the United States (Ajay V. Bhatt, Bala Sudarshan Cadambi, Jeff Morriss, Shaun Knoll and Shelagh Callahan) for universal serial bus (USB) technology, used in memory sticks. The Popular Prize went to Spaniard José Luis Lopez Gomez, who invented an independent guided wheel system for rather than the standard axle on high-speed passenger trains, making them safer and more comfortable. (SP/transl.fl)