What would you say is the force that drives the entire world, and makes the idea of a better future more and more achievable? It is indeed innovation, the motor of the world, the application of better solutions for satisfying human needs. We would also describe this incredible force simply as the way of doing something new, different that will make a certain positive difference.
Today for our “Patents world” section, we have decided to give voice to an important personality inside the European Patent Office: Oswald Schröder, spokesman of the EPO, who in the following video developed by the same Office, talks about innovation and its relevance for society development.
The natural question which appears just at the beginning of the video is: “What drives people to invent?” Obviously there are several reasons: to make money, to help other people, etc. everything could be resumes by saying: making life easier.
As Oswald Schröder says “I believe that innovation drives the world. Mankind cannot without inventing, innovating, doing things in a better way and we have got so used to be surrounded by inventions that we don’t even realize anymore that they are there”
The main source of all kind of invention is the imagination, which appears to be unlimited.
Inventors are mostly focused on human beings, on their wellbeing and health. In fact, if we put together all the inventions around the field of health (meaning medical technology, pharma, and biotechnology) the result will be around 15% of all patent applications, more than 20 thousand per year with the European Patent Office.
Last year, they were filed 265.690 patent applications, actually more than ever before as confirmed by the president of the EPO Benoit Battistelli.
It is noteworthy that building starting on what others have invented, can be the fundamental step for the next generation of a technology. One example is nanotechnology; we use nanoparticles in everyday simple items (such as clothing), but now nanotechnology may be help to cure cancer. In fact scientist Patrick Couvrer, one of the winners of the European Inventor Award 2013 (considered the “Oscar” of technology), has developed a method that use nanotechnology to target cancer cells.
In conclusion, we share the believing of EPO about innovation, about the importance of research and continuous technological evolution process.
