Grégoire Courtine wins Rolex Award for Enterprise
Grégoire Courtine © 2019 EPFL
The EPFL researcher is one of five laureates of the 2019 Rolex Awards for Enterprise. The laureates will receive financial support for their innovative projects that contribute to the common good.
Professor Grégoire Courtine is developing a revolutionary approach to help people with paralysis walk again. His method relies on re-establishing communication between the brain and spinal cord using an implantable electronic “bridge”, potentially encouraging nerve regrowth and restoring control of the legs.
The Rolex Awards for Enterprise were established in 1976 and were designed to foster a spirit of enterprise, advance human knowledge and well-being, and protect our cultural heritage and the environment.
The Rolex Awards jury – a group of independent experts – first met in February to select the 10 finalists from a shortlist created from a field of 957 candidates from 111 countries. For the first time, the public was then invited to vote on its favourite projects through a social media campaign