W3C's Berners-Lee Awarded Millennium Technology Prize

Berners-Lee Wins Inaugural Millennium Technology Prize

World Wide Web Inventor Receives One Million Euros Prize from Finnish Technology Award Foundation

April 15, 2004.

World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee today was named recipient of the first-ever Millennium Technology Prize.

The honor, which is accompanied by one million euros, is bestowed by the Finnish Technology Award Foundation as an international acknowledgement of outstanding technological innovation that directly promotes people's quality of life, is based on humane values, and encourages sustainable economic development.

"The Web has significantly enhanced many people's ability to obtain information central to their lives," says Pekka Tarjanne, former secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union and chairman of the International Award Selection Committee. "The Web is encouraging new types of social networks, supporting transparency and democracy, and opening up novel avenues for information management and business development."

Work on the Web Continues

Berners-Lee, with a background in system design in real-time communications and text-processing software development, invented the Web while working at CERN, world's largest particle physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland.

The web was first made available to the public in 1991. Berners-Lee created the first server, browser, and protocols central to the operation of the Web: the URL address, HTTP transmission protocol and HTML code.

Currently Berners-Lee works at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), in Boston.

He was born in London, UK in 1955 and graduated from Oxford University in the UK. In 2003, Berners-Lee was named a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his pioneering work.

Open Nomination Procedure

Seventy-eight innovators from 22 countries were nominated for the Millennium Technology Prize 2004 in four technological fields: health care and life sciences; communication and information; new materials and processes; and energy and the environment.

Berners-Lee was nominated by two organisations: The Royal Academy of Engineering in London, whose Fellow he is, as well as the Finnish IT center for Science.

Berners-Lee's selection was made unanimously by the board of the Finnish Technology Award Foundation at an April 14 [2004] meeting based on the recommendation of the International Award Selection Committee.

Berners-Lee will be lauded at an award ceremony at Helsinki's Finlandia Hall on June 15, 2004, held in conjunction with the inaugural Millennium Technology Conference, "Future Society — Future Technology."

The Finnish Technology Award Foundation is an independent fund established in 2002 and funded by the Finnish public and private sectors in partnership. Future prizes will be awarded biennially.

Further Information

Chairman of the International Award Selection Committee
Pekka Tarjanne
Tel: 0400 101 222

Chairman of the Board
Jaakko Ihamuotila
Tel: 050 577 3262

Representative
Ossi Kokkonen
Tel: 050 64 416

Communications Officer
Tytti Nahi
Tel: 041 577 6845

[Source: http://www.technologyawards.org/index.php?article_id=3932]

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See other details in the news story: "W3C Director Tim Berners-Lee Awarded Millennium Technology Prize."

SEARCH Advanced Search ABOUT Site Map CP RSS Channel Contact Us Sponsoring CP About Our Sponsors NEWS Cover Stories Articles & Papers Press Releases CORE STANDARDS XML SGML Schemas XSL/XSLT/XPath XLink XML Query CSS SVG TECHNOLOGY REPORTS XML Applications General Apps Government Apps Academic Apps EVENTS LIBRARY Introductions FAQs Bibliography Technology and Society Semantics Tech Topics Software Related Standards Historic	W3C's Berners-Lee Awarded Millennium Technology Prize Berners-Lee Wins Inaugural Millennium Technology Prize World Wide Web Inventor Receives One Million Euros Prize from Finnish Technology Award Foundation April 15, 2004. World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee today was named recipient of the first-ever Millennium Technology Prize. The honor, which is accompanied by one million euros, is bestowed by the Finnish Technology Award Foundation as an international acknowledgement of outstanding technological innovation that directly promotes people's quality of life, is based on humane values, and encourages sustainable economic development. "The Web has significantly enhanced many people's ability to obtain information central to their lives," says Pekka Tarjanne, former secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union and chairman of the International Award Selection Committee. "The Web is encouraging new types of social networks, supporting transparency and democracy, and opening up novel avenues for information management and business development." Work on the Web Continues Berners-Lee, with a background in system design in real-time communications and text-processing software development, invented the Web while working at CERN, world's largest particle physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. The web was first made available to the public in 1991. Berners-Lee created the first server, browser, and protocols central to the operation of the Web: the URL address, HTTP transmission protocol and HTML code. Currently Berners-Lee works at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), in Boston. He was born in London, UK in 1955 and graduated from Oxford University in the UK. In 2003, Berners-Lee was named a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his pioneering work. Open Nomination Procedure Seventy-eight innovators from 22 countries were nominated for the Millennium Technology Prize 2004 in four technological fields: health care and life sciences; communication and information; new materials and processes; and energy and the environment. Berners-Lee was nominated by two organisations: The Royal Academy of Engineering in London, whose Fellow he is, as well as the Finnish IT center for Science. Berners-Lee's selection was made unanimously by the board of the Finnish Technology Award Foundation at an April 14 [2004] meeting based on the recommendation of the International Award Selection Committee. Berners-Lee will be lauded at an award ceremony at Helsinki's Finlandia Hall on June 15, 2004, held in conjunction with the inaugural Millennium Technology Conference, "Future Society — Future Technology." The Finnish Technology Award Foundation is an independent fund established in 2002 and funded by the Finnish public and private sectors in partnership. Future prizes will be awarded biennially. Further Information Chairman of the International Award Selection Committee Pekka Tarjanne Tel: 0400 101 222 Chairman of the Board Jaakko Ihamuotila Tel: 050 577 3262 Representative Ossi Kokkonen Tel: 050 64 416 Communications Officer Tytti Nahi Tel: 041 577 6845 [Source: http://www.technologyawards.org/index.php?article_id=3932] Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See other details in the news story: "W3C Director Tim Berners-Lee Awarded Millennium Technology Prize."