Dr. Alexander Oraevsky has received first prize in the 2014 Berthold Leibinger Innovations award program, presented by the Berthold Leibinger Stiftung Foundation. Oraevsky received the award for his development of a new technique that combines both light and sound for biomedical imaging. His laser optoacoustic imaging method uses nanosecond-short laser light pulses to generate ultrasonic waves inside the tissue that are detected outside the body. The second place prize was awarded to Dr. Helmut Erdl and Dr. Abdelmalek Hanafi, of the BMW Group, for their development of a vehicular illumination system that uses semiconductor laser diodes. Hwa-yaw Tam, Professor Siu Lau Ho and Shun-Yee Michael Liu, of Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Department of Electrical Engineering, have received the third-place prize for their research on laser sensing for railway monitoring. The team developed a sensor using fiber Bragg grating to detect railway cars that need maintenance, as well as to detect failing brakes and other issues. A sensor network can be connected to the central unit that is either bound to the ground or to the railway car. An additional research prize was awarded to Philip Russell, of Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, for his invention of photonic crystal fiber, a new class of optical fiber. The multifunctional fiber can be manipulated over a wide range. The Berthold Leibinger Innovations Prize program recognizes researchers and developers who are innovators in applications of or generation of laser light. Winners are chosen by an international jury of scientists, doctors and commercialization experts. For more information, visit: www.leibinger-stiftung.de.