European Physical Society Plasma Physics Innovation Prize – 2016

«For technological or societal spin-offs from research into plasma physics”

	Research in Plasma Physics has multiple and rich outcomes with direct and/or indirect applications. These applications, which are sometimes inconspicuous and even unknown to the layman, can have significant impacts on daily human life as well as on economic activity. Surprisingly, some of the impacts seem far from the basic Plasma Physics research which gave birth to these key original ideas, but nonetheless represent exemplary innovative strategies. Today, applications of Plasma Physics flourish in vastly different domains, such as radioactive waste transmutation, medicine, isotope separation processes (with fundamental applications to cancer therapy), infection treatment, material processing, torch cutting and welding, flat TV screens, lighting systems, thrusters, as well as countless other medical, industrial and engineering applications. Within the general framework of the relationship between "Science and Society", there is a strong effort on communication between research and public domains in many countries.
	The European Physical Society is keenly aware of these important applications. As a dual gesture of stimulation and recognition, a new annual prize has been created by the Plasma Physics Division of the European Physical Society. This prize targets research which has demonstrably led to robust innovative applications or important effects on society. Nominations in any fields are encouraged.

Establishment and Support
	The prize has been established in 2008 and supported by the Plasma Physics Division of the European Physics Society. The Prize is given once a year and consists of 3000 euros and a certificate citing the contributions made by the recipient. A list of the previous winners can be found at:  http://plasma.ciemat.es/eps/awards/innovation-award/.

Rules and eligibility
	The recognized contribution may be a spin-off (product, process or tool) from research into plasma physics, currently employed outside this original field, for instance in medicine, waste management, material processing, etc. It shall correspond to an existing, proven, application, and not to an ongoing or projected development. 
Self-nominations are not allowed.
There are no restrictions for the nationality, the gender or the home institution of the nominees. EPS membership is not required.
Joint awards can be granted to groups of up to 3 researchers.

Nomination procedure
Any company, institution, national laboratory or university-based laboratory is encouraged to apply. The nominator is simply asked to fill in the EPS Plasma Physics Innovation Prize nomination form by November 1st 2015 and send it to the chair of the EPS Plasma Physics Division
Mrs Sylvie Jacquemot, LULI, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau cedex, France
E-mail address: sylvie.jacquemot@polytechnique.fr

For more information, please contact:
Bertrand Lembège     	bertrand.lembege@latmos.ipsl.fr
Holger Kernsten        	kersten@physik.uni-kiel.de 
Achim.vonKeudell    	Achim.vonKeudell@rub.de