Invention Awards
| Author | Elizabeth March |
| Position | WIPO Magazine Editorial Team, Communications and Public Outreach Division |
Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and Thailand were just three countries to host major invention exhibitions in recent weeks. At each of these events, WIPO presented awards for notable inventions selected by independent juries. The WIPO Awards program, which celebrates the achievements of inventors, creators and innovative companies around the world, aims to help foster a culture in which innovation and creativity are encouraged at all levels.
Women inventors were prominent at the Ibtikar Fair in March - billed as the first Saudi Innovation Exhibition - which drew some 35,000 visitors.
The WIPO Award for the best invention by a woman - a category introduced to the WIPO Awards program some years back to help address a lingering perception that inventing was a man's game - was won by the dynamic young Reem Ibraheem Khojah. Based on her experience as a laboratory technician, she devised a fully automated process for microscope analysis of liquid samples. It took her just two months to build the prototype for her "automated cylindrical slide microscope," which, she say, will save time, save resources and reduce health hazards for laboratory workers associated with the disposal of biological material.
The top prize at the Ibtikar Fair, awarded by co-organizers Aramco and the Mawhiba foundation, also went to a woman. Faten Abdul Rahman Khorshid had combined her medical training with traditional knowledge to develop an anti-cancer agent from an unlikely source - camel's urine. The active ingredient has proved successful in eradicating leukemia cells in mice and lung cancer cells in humans.
The WIPO best invention award at the same event was won by Mr. Ahmed Basfar for halogen-free flame retardent compounds for wires and cables.
In April, the 36th International Exhibition of Inventions, New Techniques and Products in Geneva, brought together 720 inventors from 45 countries, all hoping to attract the eye of an investor. According to the organizers, licenses totaling more than US$40 million were negotiated at last year's Exhibition. "Companies are now looking for ideas outside their own R&D department," explains the fair's founder, Jean-Luc Vincent. Added to which, he believes, as the attractions of the stock market wane, more investors are looking to back inventions which they assess could be...
To continue reading
Request your trial