Skype creator wins a million

"Niklas Zennström has been awarded the KTH Grand Prize for 2009 for his outstanding entrepreneurial and technological skills. To Niklas, global communication is as much a vision of uniting the people of the world as it is a good business concept.

He is a shining example to young people interested in technology in Sweden and an international poster child for Swedish engineering of high quality and accessibility."

This is the motivation for Niklas Zennström being awarded the KTH Great Prize, which consists of immense distinction and one million crowns.

He thus becomes a member of the same group of prominent entrepreneurs as Gunilla Pontén, Lennart Nilsson, Håkan Lans and Mathias Uhlén.

"It is a great honour for me to win the KTH Great Prize," asserts Niklas.

He adds that he, as an entrepreneur, has always experienced a burning ambition to develop society and bring people closer together.

"It is my hope that my entrepreneurship will inspire the young Swedes of today to take a step into the entrepreneurial world and together create a better society," he states.

Niklas Zennström was born in 1966 and graduated with a Master of Science in Engineering Physics from Uppsala University. Together with the Dane Janus Friis, he founded the Internet video service Joost, the file-sharing service Kazaa and the free IP telephony program Skype.

Skype has been ranked by Time Magazine as one of the fifty best network services in 2009.

The KTH Great Prize, which this year amounts to one million crowns, is funded by the proceeds of a donation from an anonymous donor.

The prize is to be awarded to Swedish citizens who, through their epoch-making efforts and discoveries and creation of new values, particularly in the field of engineering but also within science and the arts, has promoted the welfare of the Swedish people.

Previous winners include Christer Fuglesang, Evert Taube, Ake Lundqvist and Osten Mäkitalo.

Peter Larsson