Carlos Cipollitti, vice president Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) product development, opened the event and welcomed numerous guests. The 41st edition of this Patent Award celebration was attended by Ms. Sasha Baillie, CEO of LuxInnovation, Rich Kramer, chairman and CEO of Goodyear and Chris Delaney, president of Goodyear EMEA. 

As guest speaker, Ms. Baillie addressed the audience in congratulating the patent holders and praising the presence of Goodyear in Luxembourg: “We are incredibly proud to host one of your two worldwide Innovation Centers, and we really appreciate that you are so willing to work with other organizations here in Luxembourg. You are a real engine of innovation”, she said.

Rich Kramer commented on the company’s future: "To lead the industry in the future, we have to balance the existing, stable world while stepping into what is a new, unsteady and shifting world," he said. "Goodyear is positioned to lead in both the current state and the future with our connected business model, and I want to make absolutely sure all the Goodyear associates know that they are essential to that model."

The inventors were rewarded with the ‘Patent and Trade Secret Award’ plates. This year, the associates came from the Goodyear Innovation Center in Colmar-Berg (GIC*L), from Hanau in Germany, from the Quality organization, Global Engineering, from the Regional Office and from Montluçon in France.

The special distinction of the Inventor of the Year award went to a team that had developed the new Dunlop SportMaxx Race 2 ultra-high-performance tires for original equipment fitment on Porsche vehicles.

The traditional group picture kept the momentum of this glamorous evening ending with an amazing acrobatic show.