Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Purdue Professor Wins the World Food Prize

This year's World Food Prize was awarded to Professor Philip Nelson of Purdue University, a long-standing member of PIPRA. The Prize is given each year by the World Food Prize Foundation to recognize people who have "advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity, or availability of food worldwide." The Prize, which is considered the Nobel of agriculture, was established in 1970 by Norman Borlaug, himself recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Professor Nelson was awarded this year's World Food Prize for his contributions to food processing and preservation.

You can read more about the prize and Professor Nelson's work on Purdue's web site.

Asked about the prize, Professor Nelson said:

It's quite an honor to be recognized and also very humbling because of the past winners...This award also recognizes the profession of food science and Purdue. Purdue certainly receives a lot of credit because it's where I spent my career of some 47 years.

Monday, June 18, 2007

USPTO community patent review

The USPTO started an experimental program last week: community patent review. Anybody can participate in the process by signing up on the Peer-to-Patent web site at http://www.peertopatent.org/. From the project's web site:



Peer-to-Patent opens the patent examination process to public participation for the first time. Become part of this historic pilot program. Help the USPTO find the information relevant to assessing the claims of pending patent applications. Become a community reviewer and improve the quality of patents.


You can read more about the project, including all the press coverage it's received, on the Peer-to-Patent blog.