The 15 finalists for the European Inventor Award 2016, announced yesterday by the European Patent Office, have advanced technology, and helped generate economic value and employment in Europe and around the world. From Sweden, Tore Curstedt has been nominated in the category Lifetime achivement.
Lifetime achievement
Tore Curstedt has been nominated in the category lifetime achievement for his treatment to help premature babies breathe. For preterm infants, the first breaths of life can be fraught with danger. A condition known as respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) was once the leading cause of death for newborns. Thanks to the world’s best-selling and most effective RDS medication developed by laboratory physician Curstedt and his fellow researcher Bengt Robertson (1935-2008), mortality rates have plummeted. Used to treat over 3 million infants since its launch, Curstedt’s drug has come to the rescue of the tiniest of patients.
Honors scientists, researchers and engineers
With this annual award, the EPO honours scientists, researchers and engineers in five categories whose inventions have been patented by the EPO and have contributed to technological progress, social development and economic growth. The winners will be announced by the EPO on 9 June at the 11th edition of the annual award ceremony in Lisbon. The winner of the Popular Prize will be selected by the general public via online voting.
“The European Inventor Award showcases a diverse group of inventors – men and women from a wide range of countries and disciplines, whose innovations have had a positive effect on millions of lives,” said EPO President Benoît Battistelli. “European patent protection helps foster this innovative diversity by maintaining conditions for inventors from around the world to realise their creativity, and ensuring that innovators, investors and entrepreneurs are able to benefit from their efforts.”
The 15 finalists were selected by an independent international jury out of nearly 400 individuals and teams of inventors proposed for this year’s award. The 2016 finalists hail from 13 countries: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Lithuania, Sweden, the UK and the US.
Their inventions cover a wide range of technological fields including automotive safety, biochemistry, communications, the environment, electronics, nutrition and medical technology. The inventions have all benefited from European patent protection, which has helped recoup R&D efforts, and bring the innovations to market.
