The Future Innovations Prize has been awarded to three student projects and three research projects at Lund University every year since 2017 to recognise pioneering ideas that have the potential to change our world for the better. This year, six winners shared SEK 500,000. The prize money was funded by Sparbanken Skåne through its owner foundation Sparbanksstiftelsen Finn.
Magnus Cinthio, Tobias Erlöv and Isabel Gonçalves won the major innovation prize for their project Medqus. The team is developing a new type of diagnostic tool to identify patients at high risk of stroke and heart attack.
The researchers have developed a method to analyse the tissue content of narrowed carotid arteries using ultrasound, leading to better clinical decisions such as surgery or treatment. Heart attacks and strokes are the leading cause of illness and death globally. Improving the assessment of risk has the potential to save lives.
The employee prize went to a project to develop favourable bacterial strains for the sustainable cultivation and packaging of leafy vegetables by Elisabeth Uhlig and Åsa Håkansson and to a method to improve the efficiency of data transfer inspired by the brain, proposed by Kaan Kesgin and Henrik Jörntell.
The purpose of the award is to recognise and reward innovative ideas and to utilise the knowledge and research that exists at Lund University.
“Innovation is the foundation for future prosperity. As a savings bank, we care about the development of the region and supporting ideas, researchers and entrepreneurs is important to us. With this innovation prize, we want to help highlight the initiatives that can make a big difference tomorrow,” says Björn Ovander, bank director at Sparbanken Skåne in Lund.
“Innovation is crucial to find solutions to our current challenges. The prize highlights the incredible strength of innovation at Lund University and the benefit it can create for people, society and the environment,” says Niclas Nilsson, head of LU Innovation.
Read the full article: Sex innovativa lundaidéer prisade | Lunds universitet (in Swedish).