Neste Oil congratulates the winner of the 2014 Millennium Technology Prize, physicist Stuart Parkin

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Neste Oil would like to congratulate the winner of the 2014 Millennium Technology Prize, announced today, 9 April: Professor Stuart Parkin. Neste Oil has been one of the main partners of the Millennium Technology Prize, which is awarded by Technology Academy Finland (TAF) and worth EUR 1 million, since 2006.

Professor Parkin received the 2014 prize in recognition of his discoveries that have enabled a thousand-fold increase in the storage capacity of magnetic disk drives. His innovations have led to a huge expansion in data acquisition and storage capacities, and underpinned the evolution of large data centers and cloud services, social networks, and the online distribution of music and films.

“Through his work, Professor Parkin has shown that technology and innovation have a very real part to play in solving the global challenges we face today and improving people’s quality of life,” says Lars Peter Lindfors, Neste Oil’s Senior Vice President, Technology. “His work and that of other Millennium Technology Prize winners acts as an example for both young researchers just starting out on their careers and companies innovating their own businesses. We at Neste Oil, for example, are working hard to ensure that people can continue to stay on the move while reducing their environmental footprint, both today and into the future.”

Lars Peter Lindfors was named Finland's CTO of the Year for 2014 by TAF, together with Spinverse Oy and Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, in January. The award is given to a Chief Technology Officer who has made a particularly valuable contribution to the technological capabilities and growth potential of the company they work for and has been an inspiring leader and actively involved in social networking.

Technology Academy Finland is an independent foundation established by Finnish industry and the Finnish State in 2002. The Board of Technology Academy Finland selects the winner(s) of the prize on the recommendation of an International Selection Committee every second year. Read more abut the Millennium Technology Prize here (http://taf.fi/en/millennium-technology-prize/).

Further information from Lars Peter Lindfors, Senior Vice President, Technology, tel. +358 (0)50 458 3605