The Honda Foundation has named Prof Graeme M. Clark and Dr Ingeborg Hochmair as joint recipients of the 2026 Honda Prize, recognizing their independent and parallel roles in advancing the multichannel cochlear implant from laboratory concept to a technology now used by more than one million people worldwide.
The Honda Foundation has selected Professor Graeme M. Clark AC, laureate professor emeritus at the University of Melbourne, and Dr Ingeborg Hochmair, co-founder and CEO of Med-El, as joint recipients of the 2026 Honda Prize. The international award in science and technology honors their achievements in spearheading the research, development, clinical application and worldwide adoption of the multichannel cochlear implant.
The award ceremony for the 47th Honda Prize will take place at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo on Monday, Nov 16, 2026, where Clark and Hochmair will be presented with medals, certificates and a total cash prize of 10 million yen.
Parallel Paths to a Shared Milestone
Working independently on separate continents during the 1970s, Clark and Hochmair each pushed conventional cochlear implants — devices that had been limited to conveying only the presence and rhythm of sound — into multichannel systems capable of supporting meaningful speech understanding.
Clark, a former otolaryngologist, began his research in electrophysiology in 1967 and led a multidisciplinary team of scientific, medical and engineering experts at the University of Melbourne. In 1978, his team performed multichannel cochlear implant surgery, bringing the technology into clinical use. He subsequently collaborated with industry to commercialize those results, which were developed into cochlear implants by Cochlear Limited, established as a division of Nucleus Group.
Hochmair began working on cochlear implants in 1975 at the Technical University in Vienna. In 1977, together with Dr Erwin Hochmair and professor Kurt Burian, the team achieved implantation of the multichannel cochlear implant. Drs Ingeborg and Erwin Hochmair continued to refine the device and its sound processing technology before founding Med-El to advance cochlear implant innovation and accessibility.
In tackling the challenges of electrode design, signal conversion, nerve stimulation, surgical methods and safety, both researchers arrived at precise designs that selected necessary speech information and determined electrode stimulation, enabling clinical use of multichannel cochlear implants.
About the Honda Prize
In 1980, the Honda Foundation established the Honda Prize to acknowledge research achievements that contribute to “the creation of a truly humane civilization.” The Honda Prize is Japan’s international award in the scientific and technological fields that recognizes insights paving the way for next-generation technologies and efforts related to their application and widespread usage. The foundation is a public interest incorporated foundation established by Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda Motor Co., Ltd., and his younger brother Benjiro.
The prize is awarded under the framework of “ecotechnology” — defined by the foundation as a human-friendly philosophy founded on science and technology that harmonizes the natural and human environments and addresses social issues.
Industry Impact
Today, cochlear implants represent the medical technology to restore a human sensory function, serving as a foundation for human-machine interaction and neuroengineering. To date, more than one million people worldwide have received cochlear implants, which enable language acquisition and education for children, social participation and employment for adults, and enhanced quality of life for the elderly.
The recognition adds to a growing list of honors for both researchers. Clark and Hochmair were among the five cochlear implant pioneers awarded the 2026 Merkin Prize in Biomedical Technology, and both have previously been recognized with the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.
Further details on the Honda Prize and past laureates are available at the Honda Foundation’s official website.
