Since its launch in 2017, the Future Innovations Award has recognised ideas that can “change our world for the better”. This year, the awards were worth a total of SEK 800,000.
The top prize this year goes to Yvonne Lundberg Giwercman, professor at the Faculty of Medicine. Yvonne Lundberg Giwercman received the award for the development of a point-of-care test that can greatly improve the outcome of IVF treatments.
The test analyses and identifies tailored hormone therapies for individual patients, something that is not currently possible.
“Research shows that women who receive hormone therapy customised to their genes have a 38% higher chance of having children, compared to those who do not receive genetically tailored treatment,” says Yvonne Lundberg Giwercman.
"A project with major climate impact"
The honorary prize was awarded to Mattias Borg, Johannes Svensson and Johan Lundgren, all senior lecturers at Electromagnetics and Nanoelectronics at the Faculty of Engineering (LTH).
They received the award for the development of an infrared sensor technology that works at room temperature. This is a significant departure from current systems, which necessitate expensive cryogenic cooling – that is, cooling something down to an extremely low temperature, typically below -150 °C.
The technology enables efficient and low-cost monitoring of methane emissions on a large scale. For example, it can be used to monitor Sweden's hundreds of kilometres of pipelines.
“This is an exciting project. The technology focuses on methane emissions, which have a major climate impact. This is something that is important to address in order to reach the global climate goals,” says Per Hökfelt, a member of this year's jury.
According to the UN, human-caused methane emissions could be reduced by 45% within the decade to save 260,000 lives and help reach the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. ” The subsequent reduction in ground-level ozone would also prevent 260,000 deaths annually by improving air quality.
Adam Tonderski, Georg Hess and Christoffer Petersson are recognised for AI-based simulation for robotics and self-driving cars.
Students also awarded prize
Three student projects were also recognised:
- Green roofs without soil, for lighter and more sustainable urban green spaces. A project by: Enzo Tessitore, Arend de Waal and Phillip Stelzer
- Smart wine labels, which track sustainability data for wine production. A project by: Maja Sonesson and Markus Bielaszka
- Nature-inspired airflow for indoor fitness. A project by: Feiyu Wu, Xingda Li and Xiaoyue Zhang
A total of SEK 800,000 was awarded to six winning projects, while a newly-established prize of SEK 250,000 went to an experienced innovator whose work has already made an impact.
