Dr. Jaap Haartsen, who invented Bluetooth while working at Ericsson in the 1990s, has been nominated as a finalist by the European Patent Office in the industry category for its European Inventor Award.

Dr. Jaap Haartsen is named by the Eureopean Patent Office as the "father of Bluetooth. Bluetooth, a low energy, peer to peer wireless technology was born in an Ericsson lab in Lund, Sweden in the 1990’s and became a global standard of short distance wireless connection.

The award is granted annually by the European Patent Office (EPO) to outstanding inventors for their contribution to technological, social and economic progress.

When the Bluetooth, a low energy, peer to peer wireless technology celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2008, the amount of Bluetooth enabled devices shipped in ten years was already 2 billion. Today, the technology is used not only by mobile phones and PCs, but also by almost all consumer electronics devices, medical and health devices, sports and fitness devices, cars and smart homes. (An Instant research report predicted last year that 2 billion Bluetooth-enabled units would be shipped in 2013).

"The Bluetooth technology has become thé standard for device to device communications. Although challenged frequently, it has become a huge success which I did not foresee. I am very proud and honored being nominated by the European Patent Office because of my patents related to the foundations of Bluetooth", Said Haartsen.

Haartsen worked with a team of Ericsson engineers to bring Bluetooth to the market. His closest partner, Sven Mattisson, recalls their assignment: "We were to replace cables, without using more power than a cable and we talked about pricing at five dollars. Today, we’d be laughed at for that price."

Ericsson has been focusing on research and development activities ever since its dawn in 1800’s. Technology leadership has been supporting the company’s competitive edge and business development. Ericsson engineers wrote the Erlang code language, still used today in chat programs on social media sites and in other programs.