EPO hails top entrepreneurs, including AIDS cocktail inventor

Inventors of a ground-breaking AIDS treatment, lighter and more environmentally friendly aluminium car frames, a powerful but pain-free  laser scanner for the eye, and a robot designed to overhaul medical  surgery were presented with the European Inventor of the Year 2008  award. Europe's top innovation prize honors pioneers whose inventions  have changed our everyday lives and helped to strengthen Europe's  competitiveness. The award trophies were handed over by the Slovenian  President Danilo Turk, European Commission Vice President Gunter  Verheugen and the President of the European Patent Office, Alison  Brimelow, at a celebratory gala in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

An international jury selected the winner in the Lifetime Achievement  category as Erik De Clercq of the University for his landmark  contributions to antiviral treatment, including the development of the  drug cocktail for HIV/AIDS which has become the gold standard of the  present time.