Inventors Dr John O’Sullivan, Dr Terry Percival, Mr Diet Ostry, Mr Graham Daniels and Mr John Deane have been nominated in the ‘Non-European countries’ category of the annual awards for the patented WLAN technology,

The technology, which has given us the freedom to work wirelessly in our homes and offices, is now estimated to be in more than three billion devices worldwide and expected to be in more than five billion devices worldwide by the time the CSIRO patent expires at the end of 2013.

This is only the second time in the history of the award that an Australian team has been named as a finalist.

“This is a great recognition for an invention that has transformed the way we work and live. We’re delighted that the inventors are being recognised through nomination for this award,” says CSIRO’s acting group executive for information sciences Nigel Poole.

“Australians can be proud that the rapid global expansion of indoor wireless communications is in part possible because of the WLAN technology invented by scientists at CSIRO.”

The EIA is presented in five categories: Industry, Research, SMEs, Non-European countries and Lifetime Achievement.

Fifteen finalists have been selected, from almost 200 inventors and teams who were originally nominated, by an international jury comprising leading personalities from industry, science, politics and media.

Winners of the 2012 EIA will be announced during an award ceremony in Copenhagen on 14 June.