The world's most important technology prize commends innovation

The Millennium Technology Prizes are awarded by Technology Academy Finland every second year as a tribute to life-enhancing technological innovation. The winner of Millennium Technology Prize 2010 is Professor Michael Grätzel of Switzerland for his creation of third generation, low cost, dye-sensitized solar cells. He is director of the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. The winner received € 800.000 and a prestigious trophy named Peak, designed by sculptor Helena Hietanen. This year laureates were awarded during Millennium Technology Weeks at the Finnish Opera in Helsinki 9 June 2010. The two other laureates, Professor Richard Friend of the University of Cambridge for his initial innovation, organic Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), a crucial milestone in plastic electronics, and Professor Stephen Furber of the University of Manchester, principal designer of the ARM 32 bit RISC micro-processor, were each awarded prizes of €150,000.