Young Inventors Prize 2025: Congratulations to Marie Perrin, French-American chemist, selected among the ten best innovators!

On May 6, 2025, the European Patent Office (EPO) announced the names of the ten best innovators for the 2025 Young Inventors Prize. This competition recognizes exceptional innovators aged 30 or younger recognized for their outstanding contributions to sustainability, health, and industry. Congratulations to Marie Perrin, a 28-year-old French-American chemist, for her REEcover technology, which recovers europium using a process inspired by nature.

Ten innovators selected from more than 450 candidates 

Le Young Inventors Prize recognizes young innovators from around the world who contribute to several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and offer solutions in areas such as e-waste, rare earth recycling, aviation, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, carbon capture, food security, and environmental protection. Three special awards and the People's Choice Award will be presented at a ceremony broadcast live from Iceland on June 18.

Making rare earth recycling easier and cleaner

Rare earths (rare earth elements in English – REE) are essential to modern technologies, from wind turbines to smartphones. But their extraction is harmful and polluting for the environment.

Marie Perrin's innovation, called "REEcover," recovers europium—a key material for LED displays and energy-efficient lighting—faster and more sustainably than traditional technologies. This innovation is based on a nature-inspired method that uses small sulfur-based molecules to selectively recover europium from electronic waste such as used neon tubes.

Source: https://www.inpi.fr//en/Young-Inventors-Prize-2025-Congratulations-Marie-Perrin--French-American-chemist-selected-from