Coinciding with its 40th anniversary year, Genelec has recently announced the founding of the Genelec Dr. Ilpo Martikainen Audio Visionary Scholarship, offered annually to U.S. graduate students in the field of audio engineering who are members of the Audio Engineering Society (AES). The scholarship, in the amount of $5000, is being offered in association with the Audio Engineering Society Education Foundation to students who have a passion of advancing audio through innovation and technology development.
Applications for the inaugural scholarship are now being accepted. The deadline for applications for the first Genelec Dr. Ilpo Martikainen Audio Visionary Scholarship is May 15, 2019, with the award recipient being announced on August 1, 2019, for the 2019 school year.
Dr. Martikainen received his Master of Science Technology in Applied Electronics, Digital Techniques, Acoustics from the Helsinki University of Technology, in 1977. He also received his Dr.Tech h.c. from the Helsinki University of Technology in 2008 for his outstanding achievements and contributions to loudspeaker technology development and the industry. From 1971-78 he acted as managing director (MD) of KLT Elektroniikka Oy. In 1978, Ilpo founded Genelec Oy and he was the MD of the company from 1978 to 2005, during which Genelec became a leader in monitoring loudspeaker technology worldwide, both in terms of technology and business. From 2006 to 2017, he was the Chairman of the Board of Genelec. Since its founding, Genelec has earned global acclaim as a pioneer in active monitoring technology and continues to concentrate its efforts and resources on creating active monitors with unparalleled sonic integrity.
Dr. Martikainen was involved for many years in the Audio Engineering Society, including being presented with the AES Fellowship Award for significant contributions in the field of loudspeaker development in 1993, and in 2015 delivering the Richard C. Heyser Memorial Lecture at the 138th AES International Convention in Warsaw, Poland. Ilpo chose a topic near and dear to his heart, with the presentation titled “Monitoring Loudspeakers: Can They Be Truthful Quality Control Tools?,” examining the past, present and future role of the professional monitoring system. He created several articles related to loudspeaker design, some of them published in the early 1980’s appearing in AES publications. He was also the inventor of several granted and pending patents, and was involved in numerous speaker designs, while also continuing to work on new transducer technologies.
