First Spanish European Inventor Award Nominee
March 8th, 2010
The Valencian researcher Jorge Blasco has become the first person from Spain to be nominated for the annual ‘European Inventor Award’. A joint venture by the European Commission and the European Patent Office (EPO) , the awards are now in their fourth year and will be presented in Madrid on the 28th April.
The award recognises the most outstanding inventions in four categories, and will be selected by a jury of experts from 12 nominees. The prize itself is honorary and does not involve a cash award, while the four categories are: ‘Lifetime Achievement’, ‘Industry’, ‘SMEs & Research’ and ‘Invention from a Non-European country’. The awards recognize inventors or teams of inventors that, thanks to their pioneering work, have responded to current challenges and contribute to the progress and welfare of society.
Valencia born Jorge Blasco is nominated in the SMEs & Research section, having developed a system to provide data transmission over power lines for fast internet access straight from a wall plug, a possibility that will potentially facilitate access to the internet to towns or locations without telephone lines. Specifically his invention is “A power line communications (PLC) device with auxiliary filtered power output is disclosed which permits the coverage of a power line communications, PLC, system to be widely extended by means of using a high-impedance filter integrated into the actual communications equipment, in such a way that avoids the problems inherent to the use of PLC technology in an adverse environment such as that which results from connection of electrical apparatus in the same socket as power line communications equipment.”
Among the other nominees this year are inventors who have made pioneering innovations in fields as diverse as savings for drinkable water, the synthesis of carbon molecules shaped like a ‘football’, treatments for cancer and advances in the encryption of digital data. There are also nominations related to technical developments that have contributed to the success of the Wii game console and in the use of consumer level GPS, as well as research on the use of fuel cells in transport and “green” fuel.
In addition to traditionally innovative countries such as Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy and the United States, this year includes representatives from Belgium, Denmark, Spain and Canada. Previous winners include Adolf Goetzberger, for solar-power generation (2009), Peter Grünberg, Nobel Laureate in Physics (2006), AIDS researcher Erik De Clercq (2008) and Federico Faggin, the inventor of the microprocessor (2006).
Rather than any bias shown towards the award’s hosts in Madrid, the ceremony will take place in Spain because it is traditionally organized in the country holding the presidency of the European Union. The vice-president of the European Commission, Antonio Tajani, stated that this year’s nominees represent a demonstration of the “fertile human imagination.” In his view, their inventions are “crucial to humanity” and in shaping the modern world.
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