- WORLDWIDE
- UNITED KINGDOM
2007 Winners
| Bioscience: Hermes Chan of MedMira and Abdullah Kirumira of BioMedica Diagnostics for the development of fast HIV diagnostic testing. It is estimated that one-third of people tested for HIV do not return for the results. Dr Chan and Dr Kirumira developed a test that produces a result in three minutes, rather than days or weeks. Both men are now developing tests for other diseases. |
| Computing and communications: Mike Lazaridis, founder of Research in Motion, for the development of the BlackBerry mobile e-mail device. Mr Lazaridis had the original idea for the BlackBerry in his basement, and the first device, with its distinctive miniature keyboard, launched in 1999. There are now over 11m BlackBerry devices in use around the world. |
| Energy and environment: George Craford of Philips Lumileds and Roland Haitz of Hewlett-Packard for the development of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for use in new areas. Dr Craford and Dr Haitz have helped to move LEDs, which are far more energy efficient than conventional bulbs, into new markets such as traffic lights and domestic illumination. |
| Social and economic innovation: Mo Ibrahim, founder of CelTel, for the promotion of mobile phones in Africa. Founded in 1998, CelTel grew to become Africa's second-largest mobile operator and was sold in 2005 to MTC of Kuwait for $3.4 billion. As well as boosting economic activity via mobile phones, CelTel showed that it is possible to build a multi-billion dollar African company in an industry other than oil or mining. |
| Business-process innovation: N.R. Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys, for pioneering India's information-technology services industry. Under Mr Narayana Murthy's leadership, Infosys developed the idea of providing computing services from India to clients around the world, often at much lower cost, paving the way for a $40 billion industry. |
| Consumer products: Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo for his leading role in shaping the video-game industry. From the creation of “Donkey Kong” in 1981 to the establishment of the “Mario” and “Zelda” franchises in the 1980s and the current success of DS hand-held and Wii motion-sensing games consoles, Mr Miyamoto helped to bring into being, and then redefined, a new industry. |
| No boundaries: Stuart Parkin, Peter Grünberg and Albert Fert for the discovery and development of the giant-magnetoresistive (GMR) effect. Discovered independently by Dr Grünberg and Dr Fert in 1988, the GMR effect was subsequently developed for commercial use by Dr Parkin of IBM. By increasing the sensitivity of the sensors used to read data for magnetic disks, the GMR effect boosted hard-disk capacity, cutting the cost of storage and eventually making possible the first iPod. |
| Corporate use of innovation: Procter & Gamble, for its pioneering use of the open-innovation model in its “Connect + Develop” programme to find ideas for new products outside the company. |



