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Advance notice for media 16 August 2006


Millennium Technology Prize 2006 - Award ceremony and other events

The winner of the 2006 Millennium Technology Prize, Japanese Professor Shuji Nakamura, will receive the award in Finland on 8 September. The prize is being awarded to Professor Nakamura for his invention of a new, revolutionary source of light – bright-blue, green and white LEDs and a blue laser.

The award ceremony will be held in association with an ECOFIN meeting on 8 September. Other related Millennium Technology Prize events include a press conference and panel discussion on 8 September, the Millennium Youth Forum and a presentation by Professor Nakamura on 9 September and Professor Nakamura’s seminar for technologists on 11 September.

Further details of these events for media are provided below.

Friday 8 September 2006
Helsinki City Hall , Helsinki , Finland

- 10.00-11.00 Press conference at which Professor Shuji Nakamura and representatives of th e Millennium Prize Foundation will be present.

- 11.30-12.30 Lunch

- 12.30-14.00 Panel discussion: The Role of Technology in Meeting Global Challenges

o Chairman and moderator is Professor Jorma Routti from Finland .

o The panellists are Professor Bertil Anderson from Sweden , Dr. Anne Brunila from Finland , Professor Leen Hordijk from The Netherlands, Mr. Jorma Ollila from Finland , Mr. Jason Pontin from the USA and
Dr. Charles M. Vest from the USA .

Helsinki Fair Centre (in association with an ECOFIN meeting)
- 15.30-17.15 Cocktails

- 17.30-18.15 Award ceremony for the Millennium Technology Prize 2006

Please note! Official accreditation for the Helsinki Fair Centre ECOFIN meeting is compulso ry if you wish to attend this event.

Saturday 9 September 2006
Heureka, The Finnish Science Centre, Vantaa , Finland

- 11.00-12.30 Millennium Youth Forum
Professor Shuji Nakamura meets students from upper secondary schools.

- 14.00-15.30 Presentation by Professor Shuji Nakamura (open to the public)

Monday 11 September 2006
Dipoli Congress Centre, Espoo , Finland

- 9.30-11.30 Seminar for technologists and other professionals by Professor Shuji Nakamura

Accreditation

Press accreditation is necessary for all Millennium Prize Foundation events. To obtain your accreditation, please send the following information to press@millenniumprize.fi

Required information: Name and contact details, media nam e, reporter type, events you wish to cover.

Please note! In addition to your accreditation for the Millennium Prize Foundation, official accreditation for the Helsinki Fair Centre ECOFIN meeting at http://www.eu2006.fi/media_services/en_GB/accreditation/ is compulsory if you wish to attend this event.

Please note that the timetable for accreditation is as follows:
Deadline for Award Ceremony accreditation is 25.8.2006
For all other events, the accreditation deadline is 4.9.2006

Photographs of the winner and the Announcement event can be found at www.millenniumprize.fi > Image Bank. Photographs from upcoming events will be posted soon after each event.

Further information for journalists:

The Millennium Prize Foundation
Ms. Tan ja Ikonen
Communications Manager
Mobile phone: + 358 40 701 5757
tanja.ikonen@millenniumprize.fi

Ms. Kaisa-Riikka Salomaa
Communications Assistant
Mobile phone: + 358 50 495 3488
Kaisa-riikka.salomaa@millenniumprize.fi

www.millenniumprize.fi

The Millennium Technology Prize
The prize of one million euros is the world’s biggest technology award and is given by the Millennium Prize Foundation, an independent Finnish fund, every second year. Founded and funded by Finnish organizations, Finnish industry and the Finnish state in partnership, the objective of the Millennium Technology Prize is to promote technology’s role in improving quality of life and enhance Fi nland’s reputation as a high-technology country. The inaugural Millennium Technology Prize was presented to Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, in June 2004.

2006 Winner - Shuji Nakamura
Professor Shuji Nakamura, winner of the 2006 Millennium Technology Prize, is the inventor of a revolutionary new light sourc e - bright blue, green and white LEDs and a blue laser. Nakamura’s inventions are having an extensive impact in many areas that improve human quality of life and promote sustainable development . Applications that have already been developed using the technology he invented can reduce energy consumption, bring reading lights to the outermost areas of developing countries, sterilise water in a more efficient and cheaper way, and store data in much smaller spaces. A native of Japan , Shuji Nakamura is currently working in the USA at the Univer sity of California , Santa Barbara .

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