The EPO and the European Commission named the inventors of a revolutionary antiviral treatment, a fuel-efficient aluminium car frame, a effective non-invasive eye scan and a groundbreaking surgical robot as the European Inventors of the Year 2008 in Ljubljana yesterday.

The award was created three years ago to show that "Europe is the continent of innovation," said Commission Vice President Günter Verheugen. He handed over the award trophies together with Slovenian President Danilo Türk and the President of the EPO Alison Brimelow, at a gala at the lavish ballroom of the Grand Hotel Union in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The prizes were awarded in four categories with three nominees each: Industry, SMEs/research institutes, non-European countries and lifetime achievement. The award honours pioneers whose inventions have changed our everyday lives and helped to strengthen Europe's competitiveness, and were patented between 1993 and 2002. An international jury selected four winners from the twelve nominees.

Erik De Clercq of the University of Leuven (Belgium) won the lifetime achievement award for his landmark contributions to antiviral treatment, including the development of a drug cocktail to treat HIV/AIDS that has enabled millions of people all over the world to live in dignity despite suffering from this terrible disease. "He single-handedly helped overturn the belief that HIV is an incurable plague," said the scientist's laudatory.

It can be done!

De Clercq, who began his medical career in 1966, was visibly moved when accepting the trophy. He dedicated it to his wife and his ongoing dream: To one day be able to completely eradicate viral infections like Hepatitis B or HIV/AIDS.

A team of engineers at German car company Audi, the winners of the industry category, eradicated the thought from their minds that "something can't be done".

For decades, they had tried to make a car lighter by using aluminium instead of steel, and they succeeded against all odds in 1993, when a team comprised of Norbert Enning, Ulrich Klages, Heinrich Timm, Gundolf Kreis, Alois Feldschmid, Christian Dornberg and Karl Reiter developed an aluminium frame that makes Audi's R8 sports car more sturdy, lighter, and thus more fuel-efficient than most other petroleum-based cars on the planet.

"Everyone told us this is impossible," Enning said. "But we have found a solution for a better environment situation for all cars."

Finding a better solution: That's what Douglas Anderson, a Scottish inventor and the winner of the SME category, is all about.

Good from bad

In 1992, Douglas' son, then five years old, went blind in one eye when a retinal detachment was detected too late because of inefficient eye exams. Anderson set out to develop a system that yields a complete and detailed wide-scan image of a patient's retina. More than 13 million patients have since had access to the non-invasive laser-scanning eye exams developed by Anderson and his team.

The award in the non-European category went to US biomedical engineer Philip S. Green, for his groundbreaking invention of a surgical robot that allows doctors to perform highly complex surgeries via cameras and through incisions as small as 1-2 centimetres, thus significantly lowering the stress for patients.

"All winners of the European Inventor of the Year 2008 award developed truly groundbreaking inventions," Verheugen said, and Brimelow added: "The quality of the nominated inventions also reflects the quality of the European patent system that is there to protect them."

The award ceremony was framed by dance and music performances, and a gala dinner that, according to Türk, the Slovenian president, sported his country's finest when it comes to wine and food. With a smile, he said that Europe needs innovation, but it also needs "culture".

(www.epo.org)