OREANDA-NEWS. The Expert Group of the RUSNANOPRIZE 2014 had announced the shortlist of the Award. After evaluating all the 20 applications, the experts voted to select the three finalists who have been put forward for consideration to the Prize Committee:

Victor Bykov, CEO of NT-MDT (Russia), Pavel Dorozhkin, Head of Applications and Product Management Department at NT-MDT (Russia), and Renato Zenobi, Professor of ETH Zurich (Switzerland), nominated for the development and commercialization of equipment, probes and methods for optical, physical and chemical characterization on the nanometer scale: scanning probe microscopy, integration with optical microscopy and spectroscopy techniques.

Stephen Chou, professor of Princeton University (USA), nominated for the development of nanoimprint lithography (nanoimprint technologies and products produced using nanoimprint: lasers, displays, solar cells, biochemical sensors, nanostructured surfaces and particles for medical applications among others).

Aleksey Ekimov, Chief Scientist at Nanocrystals Technology (USA), Louis Brus, Columbia University Professor (USA), and Alexander Efros, Senior Researcher at Naval Research Laboratory (USA), nominated for the discovery and development of nanocrystalline quantum dots, a breakthrough nanomaterials widely used in optics and optoelectronics.

At the next and final stage, this year's winner will be chosen from among the three shortlist nominees by the Prize Committee, consisting of prominent science and business representatives in the field of optics and nanoelectronics, this year's topic for nominations.

The Prize Committee of RUSNANOPRIZE 2014 is chairmanned by Emmanuel Desurvire, chosen by the majority of votes of the Committee members from among themselves. Mr. Desurvire, Sc.D. is currently serving as Scientific Director of Thales Research & Technology. He is also a fellow for IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the world's largest association of technical professionals. Mr. Desurvire has been involved in optical communications research for over twenty years and has received numerous recognitions for his pioneering contributions to the study of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA), including 2008 Millennium Technology Prize and 2011 European Inventor Award.

“Not surprisingly, the three persons or groups that have been selected by the Prize Expert Group, are all equally astounding in terms of profiles, achievements and lasting impact in technology. Therefore, the task of electing a winner from such a selection may seem intractable. However, thanks to the broad representation and expertise of the Jury, a democratic vote could be made. According to the latin formula, the winner should be only considered the Primus inter pares, that is: the first among equals.” says Emmanuel Desurvire, the 2014 RUSNANOPRIZE Committee Chairman.

The RUSNANOPRIZE 2014 award ceremony will be held at the Open Innovations Forum on October 15, 2014 in Moscow.