U.S. engineer Robert Langer was on Wednesday named the winner of the 800,000 euro Millennium Technology Prize, which is funded by the Finnish state and industry.
Langer, an Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was awarded the prize for his invention and development of innovative biomaterials. Each year over 100 million people are treated with the help of his controlled drug release innovation.
The remaining finalists were each awarded 115,000 euros.
The Millennium Technology Prize is granted every second year to revolutionaries in the technology field. In 2006, the winner was Shuji Nakamura who developed LED lighting. The first winner of the prize was Tim Berners-Lee, one of the inventors of the world wide web.
The prize was initiated by the Finnish government in 2004 to help spur technological development. It is the most significant global technology prize.
The interview with this year's winner will be broadcast on the YLE Teema channel on Thursday at 20.30.