CIPA has become an important partner to Prince William’s Earthshot Prize. As well as assisting behind the scenes with the IP due diligence process as we did in 2021, CIPA was made an Official Nominator, able to put forward entrants from the client base of our members for the prestigious prizes.
In early 2022, we submitted 24 remarkable solutions for The Earthshot Prize. In total over 1,000 nominations were submitted by 350 Official Nominators from around the world, with 15 finalists chosen through a rigorous 10-month selection process. Three of the 15 finalists 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)
Notpla, one of CIPA’s three nominated finalists, won the £1m Earthshot Prize in the ‘Build a waste-free world’ category.
The five Earthshot winners were announced at a spectacular ceremony in Boston on 2 December. The Earthshot categories are ‘Build a waste-free world’, ‘Fix our climate’, ‘Protect and restore nature’, ‘Clean our air’ and ‘Revive our oceans’. 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.
All 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.
As well as being an Official Nominator, CIPA plays an integral role behind the scenes on the IP due diligence process. 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.
We look forward to working with The Earthshot Prize again in 2023.
Chris Large
Fellowship Director at The Earthshot Prize said: “CIPA continued to play a significant part in the success of The Earthshot Prize in 2022.
“As well as assisting our due diligence process, checking nominations against a set of intellectual property criteria, the institute became one of our Official Nominators. CIPA submitted an impressive set of innovations, including two eventual finalists and one winner.
“Thank you CIPA for embracing The Earthshot Prize so wholeheartedly and being an important partner in our efforts to restore the planet.”