Lennart Lindblad, founder of Autoliv Inc., was awarded the 2016 Polhem Prize, Sweden’s most prestigious innovation award for cutting-edge innovations.
Lindblad invented significant improvements to the seat belt, a groundbreaking innovation that pioneered the market in the 1950s. In 1953, Lennart started Autoservice AB. Later, the company changed name to Autoliv, and turned into an international company with more than 68,000 employees.
“We are very proud to learn that our founder has been awarded Sweden’s most prestigious innovation prize,” said Jan Carlson, chairman, president and CEO of Autoliv. “Lennart’s initial vision of saving more lives is still present in everything we do at Autoliv. Every year, our products save more than 30,000 lives and prevent 10 times as many severe injuries. The next step is to further reduce road traffic accidents with active safety systems to assist the driver to avoid an accident or reduce the speed of impact, thereby substantially mitigating the severity of injuries.”
Lindblad, aged 86, is still developing safety solutions. Currently, he is developing an automatic tightening solution for truck straps.
