Neste congratulates the winner of the 2016 Millennium Technology Prize, biochemical engineer Frances Arnold
Neste Corporation
News
25 May 2016
Neste congratulates the winner of the 2016 Millennium Technology Prize, biochemical engineer Frances Arnold
Neste would like to congratulate biochemical engineer Frances Arnold, the winner of the Millennium Technology Prize, announced on 24th May 2016. The prize sum is EUR 1 million. Neste has been one of the main partners of the Millennium Technology Prize since 2006.
Biochemical engineer Frances Arnold received the 2016 Millennium Technology prize in recognition of directed evolution, a pioneering innovation that simulates natural selection in a laboratory setting and enables the engineering of new kinds of protections for use in a variety of industries - more economically, efficiently and ecologically than previous methods.
"We would like to congratulate Frances Arnold, who has shown with her example that technology and innovations can play a significant role in various fields. The method developed by Ms Arnold can be used for creating optimized enzymes that can be used in producing renewable energy from biomass and pharmaceutical production, among other applications. We need these successful innovations that improve the quality of life, create new business and encourage other researchers to persistently continue their work," says Lars Peter Lindfors, Senior Vice President, Technology at Neste.
"Slightly over one-fifth of Neste employees work in R&D and technology. Our aim is to ensure that people and goods can continue to stay on the move while reducing their environmental footprint, and that we are successful in creating completely new business in non-traffic applications," Lindfors continues.
The international Millennium Technology Prize is awarded by Technology Academy Finland, an independent foundation established by Finnish industry and the Finnish State in 2002. The Board of Technology Academy Finland selects the winners of the prize on the recommendation of the International Selection Committee every second year. Read more about the Millennium Technology Prize at http://taf.fi/en/millennium-technology-prize/.
For further information, please contact Lars Peter Lindfors, SVP, Technology, tel. +358 50 458 3605