Uppsala University’s Innovation Prize to Professor Mats Leijon

Vice-Chancellor Eva Åkesson has decided to award Professor Mats Leijon this year’s Uppsala University Innovation Prize for his accomplishments in harvesting energy from renewable sources.

This year’s recipient of the Uppsala University Innovation Prize, Professor Mats Leijon, works at the Department of Engineering Sciences and has led several commercialisations within the Division of Electricity focusing on technical solutions for extracting energy from renewable sources. Among other things, he has launched the companies Seabased AB (wave power), Vertical Wind (wind power) and Current Power AB. For instance, in July 2014 the ten first generators were put in place on the seabed near Smögen on the Swedish west coast. The goal is a wave energy plant with around 400 generators.

Mats Leijon has through his research, his entrepreneurship and his broad commitment had a central role in creating the strong research environment for renewable energy that Uppsala University has today. He formed his department at Uppsala University in the year 2000 and has since then contributed to more than 200 scientific papers, close to 30 theses and a large number of patents. Apart from in the fields already mentioned, Mats Leijon has patents in electric vehicles and electrical systems.

Uppsala University’s Innovation Prize – Hjärnäpplet:

Uppsala University Innovation annually awards the Innovation Prize to someone who has successfully transferred knowledge from the University to a company or another external organisation, resulting in innovation. The decision is made by the Vice-Chancellor after preparations made by a prize committee consisting of internal and external representatives.