The National Academy of Inventors® (NAI) of the United States has just published the list of the 164 academic inventors it will be honoring as NAI Fellows in 2021. They include Maurizio Prato, lead researcher in the Carbon Bionanotechnology group at CIC biomaGUNE, Ikerbasque professor and AXA Chair. It is an appointment based on all the inventive activity of Prato, who for years has been contributing toward the advancement of science with numerous inventions in various fields. Among them all, it is worth highlighting the “Prato Reaction”, a chemical reaction that is used to functionalize fullerenes, carbon nanotubes and graphene, and has been used by scientists across the world working on these materials for various applications ranging from new solar cells to medical devices.

The NAI Fellows Program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation by creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have had a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. The NAI Fellow recognition is the highest professional distinction granted only to academic inventors. To date, NAI members hold more than 48,000 U.S. patents, which have generated more than 13,000 licensed technologies and companies, and created more than one million jobs. In addition, revenue to the tune of over $3 billion has been generated based on the discoveries of NAI members.

The NAI Fellows class of 2021 has been drawn from 116 research universities and not-for-profit and governmental research institutes across the world. Among the members of this class are 33 members of various National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and three Nobel Prize laureates, in addition to other honors and distinctions. Their research and entrepreneurial work likewise covers a wide range of scientific disciplines related to the technological transfer of their inventions for the benefit of society.

The full list of the 2021 NAI Fellows is available here.