European Inventor Award

Every year, the European Patent Office (EPO) honors outstanding inventors for their contribution to technological progress, to economic growth and to society and our daily life in general with the European Inventor Award. 

Following a long-standing, successful tradition, Amsterdam joined the exclusive circle of award ceremony locations in 2013. The EPO’s award ceremony also has a long tradition for VOK DAMS. Since 2007, our Munich Team supports this outstanding event and will do so until at least 2017. We have executed the event all over Europe; from Copenhagen to Madrid and from Prague to Munich.

The award is presented in five categories: industry, SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), research, non-European countries and lifetime achievement. For the first time, an audience award was also presented, with the general public voting online.

A principal element of the award ceremony is the entertainment program, which consisted of three acts this year: dancer Jimmie Surles (Germany), performance artist Katsumi Sakakura (Japan) and dance crew “Chunky Move” from Australia. The German-Dutch presenter Désirée Duray hosted the event.

At the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam, VOK DAMS implemented a perfectly staged award ceremony, which generated a high media attention all over Europe and enthused the high-ranking guests on site. This year’s guest of honor was Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands. European royalty are a recurring element  of the Inventor award with appearances of the Danish Crown Prince and the Spanish Crown Prince (now King of Spain) at recent ceremonies.