European Patent Office (EPO) Recognizes Creation of NFC Technology as a Landmark InventionEINDHOVEN, Netherlands, April 21, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NXP Semiconductors N.V. (Nasdaq:NXPI) today announced that two of its engineers have been nominated for the highly-respected and acclaimed EPO European Inventor Award. Franz Amtmann and Philippe Maugars, along with their teams, have been recognized due to their work in the milestone creation of near field communication (NFC).
The EPO European Inventor Award aims to recognize and reward creativity of inventors the world over, who use their technical, scientific and intellectual skills to make a real contribution to technological progress, economic growth and positively impact people's daily lives.
Co-invented by NXP (formerly Philips Semiconductors) and Sony in 2002, NFC technology now securely connects hundreds of millions of smartphones, tablets, and other consumer electronics. NFC allows devices to establish communications between other devices and infrastructure, passing data by touching them or putting them very closely together. NXP has led the effort to establish the worldwide adoption of NFC technology, and in 2004 helped found the NFC Forum, the standards-based organization that now includes more than 170 member companies.
Today, NFC is all around us, bringing simple tasks alive with just a simple tap of an enabled device. NFC technology supports everyday uses, such as buying goods with mobiles phones or using a debit card to 'tap and pay' for public transport. The technology is fast, intuitive, seamless and can establish connections without the need for battery powered connectivity. NFC is now deployed across a whole range of industries including mobile, payments, access management, consumer electronics and automotive.
Franz Amtmann, RFID lead architect, has been part of what is now NXP Semiconductors for nearly 25 years. In that time, his name has been filed on more than 50 patents, helping to drive global innovation in RFID. Philippe Maugars has worked with Philips and later NXP for 30 years, leading successful projects in the domains of Smart Card Readers, Power Management and LED based Smart Lighting systems, with his name listed on more than 25 patents.
Franz said: "To be nominated for the EPO European Inventor Award is a great acknowledgement of the entire team's hard work, and it is also a personal highlight in my career. From my early days at Graz University of Technology, I could barely dream that one day I might play a part in inventing a technology that is changing people's daily lives around the world."
Philippe commented: "NFC technology was born from a cooperation between teams having complementary expertise across RFID, Applications and IC Design. These technical collaborations in our labs were crucial to the success of NFC, which will only continue to grow. I feel very honored to have contributed to this great adventure, and to be recognized by the European Patent Office is unbelievable. "
Brian Hinman, chief intellectual property officer at Royal Philips: "We would like to congratulate NXP, as well as the complete team around Mr. Amtmann and Mr. Maugars, for their nomination as finalists of the European Inventor Award at the EPO. Philips was one of the companies that established the specification of the NFC technology, before it spun out NXP into a separate company, so we are also proud in having contributed to the success of this technology. We feel that NFC will become pervasive and allow intuitive interaction for many wireless and connected applications in the era of the Internet of Things, including areas of focus for Philips in HealthTech and Lighting Solutions."
This year's event is the 10th of its kind and will be held on 11 June 2015 at the Palais Brongniart in Paris, France. There are five categories for the awards spanning industry, SMEs, research, non-European countries and lifetime achievement. Three previous finalists of the awards, Peter Grünberg, Stefan Hell and Shuji Nakamura have gone on to collect Nobel Prizes.
About NXP Semiconductors
NXP Semiconductors N.V. (Nasdaq:NXPI) creates solutions that enable Secure Connections for a Smarter World. Building on its expertise in High Performance Mixed Signal electronics, NXP is driving innovation in the application areas Connected Car, Security, Portable & Wearable and Internet of Things. NXP has operations in more than 25 countries, and posted revenue of $5.65 billion in 2014. Find out more at nxp.com.
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