The 2006 Millennium Technology Prize, the world's largest technology prize, was presented to Shuji Nakamura today in Helsinki for his invention of new sources of light: bright-blue, green and white LEDs and the blue laser diode. (See "LED Inventor Wins $1.3M Millennium Technology Prize")

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President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen hands Professor Nakamura the prize of one million euros and ”Peak”, the Millenium Technology Prize trophy. The award ceremony took place today at the Helsinki Fair Centre.

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President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen handed Nakamura, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, the prize of one million euros ($1.3 million) and "Peak," the prize trophy. The Millennium Technology Prize is awarded every two years by the Millennium Prize Foundation, an independent Finnish fund. It recognizes outstanding technological achievement aimed at promoting quality of life and sustainable development. In his acceptance speech, Nakamura said he would be donating a portion of his prize money to promote the use of LEDs powered by solar panels to provide light in remote areas of developing countries. "I hope the award of this prize will help people to understand that this invention makes it possible to improve quality of life for many millions of people," Nakamura said. "This is not just a source of light that makes enormous energy savings possible, it is also an innovation that can be used in the sterilization of drinking water and for storing data in much more efficient ways."