The scientist Avelino Corma (Moncofa, 1951) has received the European Inventor Award for All Professional Career this Tuesday in Valencia during the awards ceremony of the same name granted by the European Patent Office.
When receiving the recognition, Corma thanked his team for the award, "to all the people who have worked with me for many years and have made contributions to achieve results," he said. He also had words for the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) -whose rector, José E. Capilla, was among the attendees- and the CSIC for his support in his years as a researcher, as well as for the companies that "have created in what we were doing. It is not easy to go from a small concept to an industrial application", he pointed out. For this reason, for Corma, the award is a recognition of his contribution to technology transfer, "and with this award we close the cycle."
Prior to collecting the award, the only one that was already known in advance at the gala, a video was broadcast in which Corma himself summarized his dedication to science and technology. "I am totally devoted to research, to executing projects, and to exploiting the results", he shares in the audiovisual, recorded on various stages of the Valencian Community. In the video broadcast before his appointment, the child protagonists of it have presented Corma with an "undervalued superhero".
Research Professor; Since 1990 he has carried out his scientific work at the ITQ Institute of Chemical Technology, a mixed research center created in 1990 by the UPV and the Higher Council for Scientific Research. His field of study is the molecular design of catalysts and sustainable catalytic processes in the fields of hydrocarbon refining and biomass derivatives, and final chemistry; For this reason, he has worked on fundamental aspects of acid-base and redox catalysis in order to understand the nature of the active centers and the reaction mechanisms.
The award received today at the Palau de les Comunicacions joins a long list of recognitions treasured by the chemist from Castellón, including the Jaume I Award for New Technologies received in 2000, the 2013 Prince of Asturias Award for Scientific and Technical Research or the recently awarded I Santiago Grisolía Award for Professional Work in the Field of Scientific Research (2022).
Other awards were also known at the gala held this afternoon in the categories of "Research", "SMEs", "Industry" and "Non-EPO Countries" and the "Young Inventors Award". In none of these have there been Spanish candidates, so Corma's is the only Spanish representation in a ceremony that has been attended by the acting president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ximo Puig, and the councilor of the Valencia City Council, Paula Llobet.
