SATO wins award at the 39th Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions

The OHL Group subsidiary SATO, a leader in building all kinds of port infrastructure, reinforces its international recognition.

As part of the celebration of the 39th Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions, the world’s largest fair of its kind, SATO received three new international awards.

The jury of the organization evaluates and grants three awards for each category. They awarded OHL’s subsidiary two medals in the field of construction, out of 36 inventions:

• Gold Medal with honors, (additional recognition that has been granted on rare occasions), went to the CUBIPOD, which has an international patent. The CUBIPOD is a new element for the construction of the main layer of sloping breakwaters in marine ports
• A Silver Medal for the SATOGRAB claw – also with an international patent – which is a device for the recovery of blocks in breakwaters

Moreover, Spanish patent agency the Cabrerizo Garcia Office, a partner of the event since its inception, is sponsor of the award for best Spanish invention among those submitted, regardless of category, and they gave this award to CUBIPOD.

SATO’s booth received numerous visits from companies and public organizations who were keen to use both the CUBIPOD and the SATOGRAB claw in port construction, meaning that so that the objective of dissemination of the two inventions was widely covered.

The awards top off a record of excellence by the OHL Group in R&D, particularly in the field of research in maritime and port works by its subsidiary SATO, one of the Spanish companies at the forefront of technological leadership in field.

The Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions opened its doors from 6 to 10 April, 2011. About 800 exhibitors from 45 countries presented a wide variety of inventions in the Palexpo exhibition center in the Swiss city.

The Spanish presence this year was very similar to last year, with 18 inventions which received 2 awards and 8 gold medals, among which are those received by the subsidiary of the OHL Group.

The event provided an opportunity to present projects for companies and researchers, individuals, universities and institutions. Of the total of 1,000 inventions submitted, which occupied 8,500 m2, 18% were independent researchers and the rest were companies, research centers and universities. Europe led the number of ideas submitted with 48%, followed by Asia and the Middle East with 47% and the remaining continents accounted for 5%.

There were 22 categories for the inventions and those which received the most submissions were: environmental protection, medicine and healthcare, mechanical engineering, electronics and information technology, civil engineering and construction, security, transportation methods, practical devices, agriculture and gardening, sports, home science, toys and furniture.

The organizers of the International Exhibition of Inventions estimated that there were over 60,000 visitors to the event, of which more than half were industrial companies, distributors and entrepreneurs from around the world who attended with the intention of finding new products to market.

In order of importance, the best represented countries in the exhibition this year were: China, Iran, Russia, Romania, Malaysia, Poland, Spain, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, France, Croatia, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Korea, Italy and Kuwait.