CIPA nominated Notpla wins £1m Earthshot Prize  

Notpla, one of CIPA’s three nominated finalists, has won a £1m Earthshot Prize in the ‘Build a waste-free world’ category. 

The five Earthshot 2022 Prize Winners were announced last night (Friday) at a spectacular ceremony in Boston which will be broadcast on BBC1 on Sunday 4 December at 5.30pm.

Each of the winners received £1million and access to a global network of professional and technical support to scale and roll out their innovations to repair the planet. The Earthshot Prize, the most prestigious environmental awards in history, was founded by Prince William’s Royal Foundation in 2020.

London-based Notpla Limited has produced a revolutionary solution to replace single-use plastics and packaging. The patented innovation uses a material that is made from seaweed and is 100% home compostable, formulated to break down like a piece of fruit peel. Notpla aims to save millions of tonnes of plastic products from polluting our oceans, littering our streets and going to landfill every year.

The ceremony was the result of a 10-month global search with over 1000 nominations from around the world. Fifteen finalists were chosen through a rigorous selection process and this year three of them were nominated by CIPA:

• Notpla (Build a waste-free world category winner) 
• Low Carbon Materials (Fix our climate category finalist) 
• Lanzatech (Fix our climate finalist) 

All of our finalists demonstrate the importance of protecting intellectual property early in the development process and show how patented innovation is addressing the world’s most pressing environmental problems to offer a greener, more hopeful future for the planet.

The 2022 Earthshot winners are:

• Protect and restore nature – Kheyti 
• Clean our air – Mukuru Clean Stoves 
• Revive our oceans – Indigenous Women of the Great Barrier Reef
• Build a waste-free world – Notpla
• Fix our climate – 44.01

As well as being an Official Earthshot Nominator, CIPA plays an integral role behind the scenes. A team of volunteer Chartered Patent Attorneys works with the Earthshot team to identify any issues that shortlisted finalists may have relating to intellectual property. We also offer IP advice and support to the finalists.

Nominations for the 2023 Prize will open this month and CIPA will again be an Official Nominator. CIPA members should contact [email protected] for details.

Notpla co-founders Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre Paslier are pictured below, in London, with their Earthshot Prize award.

Date Published: 3 December 2022