Jonathan Ive crowned British Visionary Innovator for 2012

Sir Jonathan Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design, has won the British Visionary Innovator award for 2012. Credited with designing revolutionary products like the iPod, the iPad, the iPhone, and the MacBook Air, Ive picked up the award with almost 50% of the votes.

Ive was up against the likes of Sir James Dyson, J.K. Rowling, and Simon Cowell. But he managed to secure the award with 46.6% of the votes, significantly more than Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the worldwide web, who came in second place with 18.8% of votes.

James Goodfellow OBE, inventor of the cash machine and PIN technology, came in third with 15.2% of the votes. Other nominees included graffiti artist Banksy; the inventor of online shopping, Michael Aldrich; and the scientist famous for cloning Dolly the sheep, Sir Ian Wilmut.

The British Visionary Innovator award is designed to celebrate World Intellectual Property Day, according to Macworld UK, by acknowledging people who “have achieved considerable success or developed innovative products, services or designs.”

Ive’s influence at Apple has been a major factor in the company’s success in recent years, and his iconic designs have helped make products like the iMac, the MacBook, the iPod, and Apple’s iOS devices as desirable as they are today.

Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder and former CEO, once referred to Ive as his “spiritual partner,” and it is said that Jobs left him with just as much power as the company’s new CEO, Tim Cook.