MAY 31ST IS CLOSING DATE FOR EURETINA AWARDS

The EURETINA Innovation Award was established with the goal of supporting and encouraging innovation in retinal medicine.

The closing date for entries is 31 May, so if you wish to take part in this exciting initiative, you will need to act quickly. A cheque for €20,000 will be presented to the overall winner with the runner-up receiving €10,000. Already there has been an impressive range of entries and the competition to win this award promises to be even tougher than the inaugural award in 2011.

Last year, the biggest challenge facing the judges was the selection of the shortlist of potential winners because the standard was so high. It is hoped that this year’s entries will once again allow EURETINA to promote the first-class work being carried out in retinal research in Europe

EURETINA is sponsoring the award as the society believes that it is important that it should support and reward retina specialists who develop novel and innovative ideas relevant to the field of retinal medicine. The ultimate aim is to support initiatives that will help to deliver new market applications for the benefit of patients with retinal disorders.

Major progress has been made in promoting innovation in retinal research in recent years, but EURETINA believes that this area needs to be developed to a greater extent than is the case at present. While research can advance scientific knowledge it is also important to consider the practical and commercial application of that research.

The Judging Panel for the award will consider a number of factors before deciding on the eventual winner and runner-up. These include the novelty or “inventiveness†of the research, the feasibility and scalability of the innovation and the scale of the market need for the product that might be developed from the research. Potential for commercial success and intellectual property potential will also be considered.

2011 winners Last year’s first prize was awarded to Prof Martin Rudolf of the University of Lübeck in Germany. He won the Innovation Award for his work on the prevention and treatment of macular degeneration by reducing pathological lipid deposition and inflammation in the eye.

According to Prof Rudolf this is a new therapeutic AMD approach involving the removal of neutral lipid accumulation from Bruch’s membrane, basal deposits and drusen. This approach focuses not only on one biological factor but an entire AMD critical alteration and the whole downstream effects associated with that.

Second prize went to Prof Eberhart Zrenner of the University of Tübingen for his research demonstrating how subretinal electronic implants can restore basic visual function in blind retinitis pigmentosa patients. The aim of this research is to restore useful visual process by implanting a subretinal electrode implant in patients that are blind from utter retinal degeneration, and to give them back the possibility of recognising or localising objects and achieving self-sustained mobility.

Further information about the EURETINA Innovation Award 2012 can be found at http://euretina.org/Innovation/about-innovation.asp