Latest news with #2025YoungInventorsPrize
Euronews
23-06-2025
- Science
- Euronews
Sustainable technology innovations awarded at Young Inventors Prize
Ten young inventors have been awarded for developing technologies that advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with top honours awarded for innovations in rare earth recycling, food preservation, and carbon capture. At a ceremony held in Reykjavík, Iceland, the European Patent Office (EPO) announced the winners of the 2025 Young Inventors Prize special prizes. This year's selected inventors, called 'Tomorrow Shapers,' were selected from more than 450 international applicants, all of whom were aged 30 and under. While ten inventors or teams received recognition from the EPO for their technologies, three received special awards — World Builders, Community Healers, and Nature Guardians — and one was selected as the People's Choice through an online public vote. Euronews spoke to the winners of the special prizes about their inventions. Capturing carbon emissions and redefining fashion The Nature Guardians prize went to US scientists and twin sisters Neeka and Leila Mashouf, whose invention converts carbon dioxide into cellulose-based fibres — offering a sustainable alternative to conventional textiles. The textile industry is responsible for 8% of CO2 emissions worldwide. Their company, Rubi, uses a proprietary enzymatic process that mimics the natural way trees absorb CO2 but without the land or water demands of harvesting forests or growing cotton. "A tree breathes CO2. It starts as a seed and is able to use this carbon to grow its trunk, branches and leaves. We essentially mimic this process, taking carbon and making these essential materials — but without the need to cut down trees," Neeka Mashouf told Euronews. Biodegradable sachet to combat food waste The Community Healers award went to Ugandan entrepreneurs Sandra Namboozo and Samuel Muyita, who developed a biodegradable sachet that extends the shelf life of fruit. Food waste is responsible for 10% of CO2 emissions, according to the FAO. Drawing from their backgrounds in farming communities, the two developed a sachet made from plant-based compounds that slows the ripening of fruit, extending shelf life by up to 30 days. "Karpolax is essentially a sachet that we place in fruit crates during storage or delivery. It releases an active substance that inhibits the phospholipase D enzyme responsible for the senescence or deterioration of fruit membranes," Namboozo told Euronews. Recycling rare earths Marie Perrin, a French-US chemist, won the World Builders prize for developing a process for recycling the rare earths found in electronic waste. Rare earths are a family of 17 elements on the periodic table, such as neodymium and europium, which are used to build our telephones and computers, as well as wind turbines and electric cars. China has achieved a virtual monopoly in the exploitation and production of rare earths. Perrin's innovation, a novel process to recover the rare earth element europium from discarded fluorescent lamps, eliminates the environmental damage typically caused by traditional mining. "Their production through mining poses major geopolitical and environmental problems. So recycling is something of a magic bullet, both in terms of geopolitics and environmental impact", Perrin told Euronews. Smart food label The People's Choice prize went to a team of Spanish researchers — Pilar Granado, Pablo Sosa Domínguez and Luis Chimeno The trio developed a biodegradable label to place on food that changes colour when it comes into contact with bacteria. It can be used to indicate in real time whether a food item has expired, thereby preventing food poisoning and wastage. Their innovation is already on the market and could help reduce Europe's staggering 59 million tonnes of food waste annually. Chimeno described the win as "a recognition of our path," noting that it affirmed the team's belief in the power of everyday solutions.
Euronews
16-06-2025
- Business
- Euronews
The Slovenian innovator transforming microchip manufacturing
Data centres are the digital world's powerhouses – but they come with a heavy environmental cost. Globally, they consume an estimated 460 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity each year, equivalent to the energy needs of 153 million homes. Without intervention, their carbon footprint could reach 3.2% of global emissions by 2025. Teja Potočnik, a 26-year-old Slovenian researcher, is working to change that. Her invention – an automated nanomaterial integration platform – optimises the manufacture of advanced semiconductor devices, otherwise known as chips. These advanced chips, in turn, power the servers and hardware that run today's data centres. By enabling the production of more energy-efficient chips, her innovation directly contributes to reducing the massive energy consumption of data centres worldwide. 'The problem we are solving is the ever-increasing demand for faster, more efficient and more powerful microchips. This is because of the demand of AI, quantum computing and data storage users', Potočnik explains, 'Our invention can help with the manufacture of more energy-efficient chips using nanomaterials, which means that there can be enormous energy savings.' This pioneering project has earned her a place among the selected innovators honoured at the 2025 Young Inventors Prize, awarded by the European Patent Office. As chips become smaller and more powerful, manufacturers are turning to materials like graphene, carbon nanotubes and quantum dots to push performance boundaries. But while these nanomaterials hold immense promise, integrating them at scale remains a major challenge. Potočnik's invention, LithoTag, addresses that bottleneck. By embedding nanoscale markers into semiconductor wafers, the platform enables precise alignment and integration of nanomaterials with high repeatability. This bridges the gap between laboratory research and industrial manufacturing. 'The industry cares about reliability, replicability, and integration into manufacturing processes,' she says. 'No matter how good a technology is, it holds little value if it can't be scaled.' Originally from Slovenia, Potočnik moved to the UK to study materials science and engineering, where she says she 'fell in love with nanomaterials'. Potočnik co-founded the startup Nanomation while completing her PhD in nanofabrication at the University of Cambridge. With backing from Cambridge Enterprise, she and her team filed a patent application and began exploring commercial partnerships with chip manufacturers. But it's not just about business: Potočnik's work directly supports the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure – by improving the scalability of sustainable microelectronics. It could lead to more energy-efficient consumer devices and data centre infrastructure, with widespread environmental benefits. Looking ahead, Potočnik envisions her technology becoming standard in advanced electronics manufacturing. 'The real advantage of our technology is that it can be applied to any material and any sort of electronic design, so we really hope to become the industry standard in integrating nanomaterials into advanced circuits,' she explains. Beyond the lab, the young Slovenian innovator hopes her story will encourage others to pursue bold, scalable ideas that can make a difference. 'To all the inventors who are thinking about realising their new idea, I would say just have an open mind and be brave,' Potočnik advises.
Euronews
16-06-2025
- Science
- Euronews
Marie Perrin pioneers rare earth recycling
Rare earth elements (REEs) are vital to everything from smartphones and laptops to wind turbines and electric vehicles – but extracting them comes at a steep environmental cost. Mining one tonne of REEs can generate up to 2,000 tonnes of toxic waste, including radioactive material. French-American chemist Marie Perrin is offering a cleaner solution. At ETH Zürich, she developed a fast, scalable process to recover europium from discarded fluorescent lamps – without the pollution of conventional methods. 'Today, I'm working on bringing to market a technology that I developed during my grad studies on the recycling rare earth elements,' Perrin says. 'They're in your phone, in your computer, and in a lot of green technologies, like wind turbines and electric cars.' 'We have a solution [...] to source these metals from the very waste we produce,' she says. The innovation earned her a place among the top ten Tomorrow Shapers in the European Patent Office's 2025 Young Inventors Prize. The patent-pending process begins by dismantling lamps to safely extract phosphor powder and remove mercury. The powder is dissolved in acid, then combined with sulphur-based molecules that trigger a redox reaction. A golden precipitate forms, rich in europium, while other elements like yttrium remain in solution. The solid is filtered, treated with ammonium oxalate to regenerate the extractant, and finally transformed into usable europium oxide. The method also reduces the need for toxic solvents and allows closed-loop reuse of chemicals. 'Our invention allows us to separate these elements more efficiently. And we do it from waste so that these critical metals are not thrown away,' she says. Born in the US and raised in Toulouse, Perrin was drawn to chemistry from a young age – not least because both her parents are scientists. ''My mum is a chemist, and early on, she shared her passion for chemistry, which really guided me in my studies afterwards,' she says, looking back. Perrin's PhD at ETH Zürich began with work on water purification rather than rare earth separation, but a shift came early in the project when, together with PhD supervisor Professor Victor Mougel, Perrin 'discovered that the molecules that we were using could be used for rare earth separation'. With support from ETH's Technology Transfer Office, Perrin filed a patent application, published her findings in science journal Nature, and co-founded the Swiss startup REEcover with Mougel and longtime friend Maria Pujos. In spite of REEcover's sustainability credentials, it has not all been smooth sailing. 'We reached out to many companies but struggled to make an impact at first,' Perrin recalls. 'When we began to make contacts, we realised that many industries do not have power over their supply chain.' Initially focused on lamps, REEcover is now expanding into recovering rare earths from magnets used in electric vehicles and electronics. The team is running proof-of-concept studies to adapt the method to other waste streams, aiming to push industry towards circular models. For Perrin, this is not science for science's sake. 'Our generation faces many challenges, from global pandemics to climate change,' she says. 'If you have an idea, be bold, be creative and keep pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.'
Euronews
13-06-2025
- Science
- Euronews
Paper-based devices offer a greener future for consumer electronics
Every year, millions of tonnes of electronic waste end up in landfills, largely because small devices are built from materials that are nearly impossible to separate and recycle efficiently. At just 24 years old, Austrian industrial designer Franziska Kerber is working to change that: She has developed PAPE, a sustainable, paper-based alternative to plastic and fibreglass used in the casings of small electronic devices. Thanks to her work on PAPE, Kerber has been recognised as one of the top ten winners – called Tomorrow Shapers – of the 2025 Young Inventors Prize, awarded by the European Patent Office. 'Electronic waste is the fastest-growing waste stream worldwide and most electronic products are not designed in a way for them to be recycled,' Kerber explained. 'So I was aiming to create a product that not only improves recyclability, but creates a full circular system around it.' Unlike conventional plastics, which often trap valuable materials inside a device, PAPE is designed to dissolve in a targeted process. This allows manufacturers to retrieve electronic components without the need for shredding or chemical separation. PAPE is made from unused paper fibres, is durable and biodegradable, and was designed from the ground up with material recovery in mind. Kerber's commitment to sustainable design was shaped by both family and education. Her father, a physicist and award-winning inventor, introduced her to dissolvable electronics at a young age. While studying industrial design at FH Joanneum, she became increasingly focused on circular systems and material reuse – realising that solving e-waste requires more than just one recyclable component. 'Even if researchers create dissolvable, recyclable circuit boards, it doesn't really change anything if the rest of the product just ends up as waste again. The whole design has to evolve – otherwise, we're just shifting the problem instead of solving it,' she said. To develop PAPE, Kerber experimented with compressed paper fibres, refining the product through iterations that tested heat resistance, airflow, and durability. PAPE was specifically created for small consumer electronics like WiFi routers and smoke detectors, which are widespread but rarely recycled properly. 'I hope that this invention reaches a point when people talk about which WiFi router they should buy next, they will think about PAPE because it's just the better sustainable option and I love the design,' Kerber added. She is now working with startups and companies developing recyclable PCBs to bring PAPE to the market, aiming to shift the consumer electronics industry toward truly circular solutions. Moreover, Kerber's work contributes directly to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) – highlighting how thoughtful design can reduce waste and help shape a more sustainable future. The European Space Agency (ESA) isn't ruling out programme cuts or freezes if proposed budget cuts to the American space agency NASA are passed by the US Congress later this year. NASA's 2026 technical budget request, which was released last week, details possible cuts to 19 European space research programmes and could impact key technologies that ESA supplies to American Moon missions. The bill still needs Congress' approval, likely to come this autumn. Josef Aschbacher, ESA's director general, told journalists on Thursday that the council is 'doing its homework' to analyse what the impacts of possible NASA budget cuts could be and how investments made by its member states could be 'used in the most efficient way,' to respond. Aschbacher assured that no cuts or cancellations were coming until the US "finalised" its position, but that no matter the decision made by Congress, ESA would be "ready" and "well-prepared" to react. Carole Mundell, ESA's director of science, said the agency had determined 19 research projects could be impacted by the proposed NASA budget cuts. Mundell said ESA and its international partners could mitigate the damage to all but three of them: the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), a space probe that measures gravitational waves, Envision, ESA's first mission to Venus to measure its different atmospheres, and NewAthena, the world's largest X-Ray observatory. LISA and Envision have already been approved by the ESA council for funding, and NewAthena will come before the council but is expected to pass in 2027. ESA also supplies NASA with certain key parts for the NASA-led Artemis missions that would see humans return to the surface of the Moon for the first time since the 1960s. The ESA builds European Space Modules (ESMs) that provide electricity and oxygen to Orion, the spacecraft picked by NASA for the Artemis missions to the surface of the Moon. The ESA is also in charge of the Argonaut, Europe's lunar lander programme that would ultimately support these missions. It is also contributing three key elements for Gateway, the first international space station to be built around the Moon. The proposed NASA budget said that it will sustain funding for the Artemis II mission, scheduled for early 2026, and the Artemis III mission in 2027, but future missions would cancel the Gateway and retire Orion in the name of finding a more 'sustainable and cost-effective' lunar exploration strategy. Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA's director of human and robotic exploration, said the agency continues to fulfill its Gateway and ESM contracts with NASA. Even if cuts are approved, Argonaut and these European capabilities would still be used to support ESA missions, he added. Neuenschwander said ESA was now exploring with industry how some replacement technologies could be built in the EU. For example, the NASA cuts target the Rosalind Franklin ExoMars Rover mission, an ESA programme that drills down to the surface of the Red Planet to dig up organic material for further scientific study. NASA supplies three parts of the rover's technology, including the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA), an astrobiology instrument that does the sample extraction, and an americium radioisotope heater unit (RHU) to power the vehicle. Both technologies are not currently available to be produced in Europe, Neuenschwander said, but that engagement is starting to build them. The RHU in particular can also be used for future ESA lunar surface exploration missions, he added. Neuenschwander said ESA could rely on other partners, like the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), in the short term to supply technologies like the MOMA or RHU, but ultimately the goal is to build the necessary technology in Europe.
Euronews
13-06-2025
- Science
- Euronews
Lithuanian scientists transform enzyme engineering with AI
Enzymes are the hidden machinery behind many of today's medical, industrial, and environmental advances – but conventional enzyme design methods have reached their limits. That's where Laurynas Karpus (30), Vykintas Jauniškis (29), and Irmantas Rokaitis (28) come in. These Lithuanian innovators have pioneered an AI-powered platform that generates custom enzymes from scratch, free from the limitations of nature's templates. Thanks to their groundbreaking invention, they were named among the top ten Tomorrow Shapers in the European Patent Office's 2025 Young Inventors Prize. Their tool, developed through their company Biomatter, is known as the Intelligent Architecture™ platform. It doesn't just tweak what nature already offers – it creates entirely new enzymes designed for specific industrial and medical uses. 'By creating the technology for new enzyme design that is only limited by our imagination, we are unlocking a key bottleneck in solving health and sustainability problems in the 21st century,' the trio said in a joint statement. The platform combines machine learning, physics-based modeling, and experimental testing to continuously improve its enzyme outputs. The result? Scalable, efficient, and highly tailored biological tools that can accelerate everything from drug development to green chemistry. The journey began in 2017 at the Institute of Biotechnology at Vilnius University, where the trio collaborated on early AI enzyme-generation models. One of their first breakthroughs was ProteinGAN, a machine-learning model that demonstrated the feasibility of generating novel, functional enzymes. That success led them to co-found Biomatter in 2018 alongside scientists Rolandas Meškys and Donatas Repečka. Biomatter has since partnered with biotech leaders like Kirin, to produce Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) – essential nutrients for infant health – and with ArcticZymes Technologies, to develop better enzymes for gene therapy, vaccine manufacturing, and bioprocessing. 'Our goal is to make enzyme engineering faster, cheaper, and to solve a problem that couldn't be solved before,' says Rokaitis, emphasising Biomatter's ability to meet specific industry needs beyond traditional engineering in the field. 'Each enzyme we build has the potential to revolutionise that specific part of the industry and make it much more sustainable,' Karpus adds. Their work comes at a pivotal time. With the enzyme market expected to grow from €10 billion in 2025 to €15 billion by 2034, the need for next-generation enzyme solutions is critical. What's more, the Lithuanian team's innovation supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – specifically SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure). Biomatter's AI-engineered enzymes aren't just a scientific advance – they're a promise of a more adaptive and sustainable future. For Karpus, this future – and our approach to it – is as much about mindset as it is about science: 'My advice to younger generations would be to not be afraid of building, because the future is not set in stone: the future is what you make of it.' 'Forever chemicals' may be taking their toll on our health before we are even born, new research suggests. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a group of chemicals used in everyday products like food packaging and non-stick cookware. They're known as 'forever chemicals' because they don't degrade easily and can build up in the environment – and in our bodies. Scientists have detected PFAS in people's blood, breast milk, semen, livers, and even brains. They suspect these chemicals harm human health, with studies linking them to higher cholesterol, some cancers, and fertility problems, among other issues. The new research adds another complication to that list: high blood pressure during adolescence. The analysis followed more than 1,000 children in the US. It used maternal plasma collected shortly after they were born to identify their level of prenatal PFAS exposure, and matched it to doctors' records up until their 18th birthdays. Prenatal exposure to PFAS was linked to a higher risk of developing high blood pressure later in childhood, particularly in the teenage years, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The findings indicate that 'these forever chemicals can have long-lasting and potentially harmful effects that may only become apparent years after birth,' Zeyu Li, the study's lead author and a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in the US, said in a statement. The risk of elevated blood pressure was even higher for boys and Black children with higher PFAS levels at birth, the study found. In a surprise to researchers, a handful of forever chemicals were actually linked to lower diastolic, or bottom number, blood pressure in early childhood, though that changed when they entered their teenage years. Evidence on the health effects of PFAS has been mixed so far. While researchers believe these chemicals pose risks, it's difficult to pinpoint their exact impact because there are thousands of PFAS that could all interact in different ways, and because people's exposure changes over time. Even so, Li said the latest study underscores the need for researchers to track people's health and their PFAS levels over a long period of time, from early childhood to adolescence and beyond. Meanwhile, Mingyu Zhang, the study's senior author and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, said stronger environmental protections are needed to protect people from PFAS, given they are so ubiquitous that people cannot meaningfully limit their exposure on their own. That could include phasing out forever chemicals from consumer products and in industrial settings, he said, as well as better surveillance and limits on PFAS in water systems. 'This is not something individuals can solve on their own,' Zhang said.
