Skarðshlíðarskóli wins EPO art competition

Education on sustainability in relation to technology, the arts or innovation

Students Skarðshlíðar School in Hafnarfjörður are among the winners of the European Patent Office (EPO) art competition, held to mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the European Patent Convention. Prizes to the Icelandic winners were presented at a ceremony at the The Intellectual Property Office this morning in the presence of some pupils, parents and staff of the school. They were there in the good company of Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, His Majesty Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands, Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany, Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir, Minister of Education, Industry and Innovation, and others.

Awards presented at the 50th anniversary celebration of the European Patent Convention

Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir, Minister of University, Industry and Innovation, presented the student group's representatives with a certificate of recognition at the premises of the Intellectual Property Office this morning. The award ceremony was broadcast live to the EPO's headquarters in Munich, where it was part of a comprehensive anniversary programme. There were also live broadcasts from The Hague in the Netherlands, where His Majesty Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands, presented similar awards, and from Phnom Penh, where the Cambodian Minister of Industry presented awards. The fourth group of students was from Munich and received their award there. Iceland became a party to the European Patent Convention (EPC) in 2004. The 39 contracting states in Europe jointly run the European Patent Office. The Intellectual Property Office has representatives on numerous committees and boards under its auspices, including the financial, legal and technical committees, as well as the Administrative Board. The Director General of the Intellectual Property Office has been the Vice-President of the Executive Board since 2019 and was re-elected for a further three-year term at the end of 2021.

The winning work by Skarðshlíðarskóli is called Friendship.

The winning entry from Skarðshlíðarskóli in Iceland is called Friendship and was created in art class during the 2019-2020 winter term by all the pupils of Skarðshlíðarskóli under the guidance of Hafdís Baldursdóttir, their art teacher. Hafdís describes the work as follows: „Each student made an Origami box, a base and a lid, glued them together and then made a picture from paper scraps which was glued onto the lid. The box was made from pages of old atlases that were due to be thrown away. All the boxes were then glued together into one large work of art.“  She says the work now hangs on a wall in the school building, adorning the school and for the enjoyment of visitors and passers-by. In total, 3,612 students from 56 schools in 19 countries submitted artwork to the competition, the theme of which was technology, art and innovation. In addition to the certificate of recognition, the winning schools receive 3,000 euros, the equivalent of about 450,000 krónur, to be used for educational work on sustainability in relation to technology, the arts or innovation.