Ten young inventors were celebrated in Reykjavík for technologies that advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with top honours awarded for innovations in rare earth recycling, food preservation, and carbon capture.
ADVERTISEMENT
At a ceremony streamed live from Reykjavík, Iceland, the European Patent Office (EPO) announced the winners of the 2025 Young Inventors Prize special prizes on Wednesday, celebrating a new generation of innovators whose technologies directly advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Hosted by youth TV presenter Benedikt Weber and 13-year-old Capucine Auffret, the event marked a turning point for the prize – held as a standalone ceremony for the first time and watched by viewers across the globe.
This year’s selected innovators, dubbed “Tomorrow Shapers,” were selected from more than 450 international applicants, all of 30 and under. While all ten received recognition for their forward-thinking inventions, 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.
Missed the ceremony? Watch the full recording of the 2025 Young Inventors Prize in the video player above.
Marie Perrin: building a cleaner future from fluorescent waste
For French-American chemist Marie Perrin, winning the World Builders prize was both an honour and a validation of years of difficult work. Her innovation, a novel process to recover the rare earth element europium from discarded fluorescent lamps, eliminates the environmental damage typically caused by traditional mining. Developed at ETH Zürich, the method avoids producing toxic waste and offers a scalable, cleaner alternative to the extraction of critical elements used in electronics and green energy.
Perrin described the award as “an outstanding recognition” and admitted she was “super grateful for everyone who believed in this technology.”
Perrin hopes that taking home the World Builders prize will be a catalyst: "Thanks to the EPO, we've had a lot of visibility and I think this helps a lot to get the industrial contacts that we need to develop the process, so hopefully this just keeps on going."
Sandra Namboozo and Samuel Muyita: a scalable solution to global food waste
For Ugandan entrepreneurs Sandra Namboozo and Samuel Muyita, receiving the Community Healers award marked a powerful affirmation of their grassroots mission to reduce food spoilage. Drawing from their personal backgrounds in farming communities, the two developed a biodegradable sachet made from plant-based compounds that slows the ripening of fruit, extending shelf life by up to 30 days.
Muyita described the recognition as humbling, particularly given how their journey began: “What started in a small village town has become a global product,” he told Euronews. Their sachets tackle multiple SDGs by improving food security, increasing farmer income, and mitigating climate impacts. “This prize is giving us the visibility to make sure our product reaches those that really need it. And to us, that is quite priceless,” he added, underscoring the significance of the Young Inventors Prize.
Looking ahead, Namboozo thinks their win is just the beginning. "We believe it's going to open us to other markets, for example in Europe and in the U.S. As well, due to the visibility that it has given us,’” she enthused.
She hopes their success in the competition might inspire other young inventors: “To young innovators, my message is simple: believe in yourself, work hard, and stay resilient.”
Neeka and Leila Mashouf: capturing carbon and redefining fashion
The Nature Guardians prize went to twin sisters Neeka and Leila Mashouf, whose invention converts carbon dioxide into cellulose-based fibres – offering a sustainable alternative to conventional textiles. 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.
“The fashion industry is the third most CO₂-polluting supply chain on the planet,” said Neeka, “and most of that impact actually comes from raw materials.” What sets their innovation apart, she explained, is that it creates the same high-quality input materials “without needing to deplete and cut down forests, which is where a lot of these materials come from, or harvest cotton which uses a lot of water.” Leila added that their next big technical challenge is scaling production from laboratory to industry-level reactors. The EPO recognition, she said, “is a great signal for us to continue building our technology and moving forward.”
The sisters, who grew up with close ties to the fashion industry through their family, believe their material could one day be a standard across supply chains. The prize, they said, would not only help with funding but also increase visibility among brands and consumers committed to sustainability.
Pilar Granado, Pablo Sosa Domínguez, and Luis Chimeno: a public vote for food safety
While jury panels selected the special prize winners, the People’s Choice prize was determined by public vote and went to a trio of young Spanish scientists – Pilar Granado, Pablo Sosa Domínguez, and Luis Chimeno – for their smart food labels that indicate real-time freshness. Their biodegradable tags detect bacterial growth and change colour accordingly, helping reduce both food waste and the risk of illness.
Chimeno described the win as “a recognition of our path,” noting that it affirmed the team’s belief in the power of everyday solutions. The idea came from a simple moment, he recalled, when Sosa had hesitated over whether to eat a suspicious piece of chicken. “There should be some way that can tell us the information on the products and in a quick way tell us if it's still safe or not to consume,” he said.
The result was a sensor-embedded label that reacts to spoilage chemicals – a breakthrough already on the market and poised to reduce Europe’s staggering 59 million tonnes of food waste annually.
Looking ahead: ten ideas, one mission
Although these special prizes and the People’s Choice focused on just four of the ten winners, all ten Tomorrow Shapers were recognised for their bold and diverse approaches to global challenges, from shipping emissions and nanomaterials to aircraft maintenance and enzyme design. EPO President António Campinos described the prize as a tribute to possibility itself: “Young inventors are the architects of a brighter tomorrow… By celebrating their achievements, we not only honour their ingenuity but also underline the transformative power of technologies and science in shaping a sustainable future and inspiring generations to come.”
Jury member and former Tomorrow Shaper Fionn Ferreira admitted the selection process had been challenging. “I think all of them will change our world...I think it came down to who embodied the ‘inventor-ness’ the most, which ideas will have the biggest impact across the whole of the world, and which ideas are truly unique.“
Fellow jury member Filipa de Sousa Rocha, who was among the innovators honoured by the Young Inventors Prize in 2023, was particularly inspired by the diversity of perspectives. “We don’t really expect people from smaller communities to have big inventions,” she told Euronews, “but I think that's also where the most interesting ideas come from, because sometimes we don't know their perspectives, their lives.”
As the curtain falls on the 2025 Young Inventors Prize, the EPO is already looking ahead. Nominations for next year’s edition are already open, inviting individuals or teams aged 30 and under to put forward their innovations aligned with the UN SDGs. Whether tackling clean energy, health equity, biodiversity or beyond, the next class of Tomorrow Shapers will have a chance to follow in the footsteps of this year’s winners and bring their solutions to a global audience.
Read more
