Famous inventor Trevor Baylis will be made a CBE for his efforts to protect the intellectual property rights of aspiring young inventors.

Mr Baylis, 77, is best known for inventing the wind-up radio, which he came up with after watching a documentary about the problems getting information about Aids to people living in rural Africa in 1991.

He patented his idea but it was initially rejected by companies in the UK before the prototype was featured on BBC’s Tomorrow’s World in 1994 and received support from South African president Nelson Mandela.

The Freeplay radio began production in South Africa in 1997 and Mr Baylis was made an OBE the same year. He set up Trevor Baylis Brands in 2003 and the organisation has helped more than 9,000 inventors and entrepreneurs realise the potential of their ideas.

He said: “I’m trying to help inventors understand who to go to to make sure their ideas are protected, and to ensure intellectual property theft is a white collar crime.

“You can’t take a huge multi-million pound company to court if they have stolen your idea, so it would be useful if there was a system involving room with a camera and the right people there to record all the evidence you want that can be used in a court of law.

“I think there’s an invention in all of us and sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that can change our lives.”

Mr Baylis, who has created about 200 products for the disabled and invented the wind-up torch, said there was a burning need to teach children that women play as big a part in science and innovation as men, and not enough women inventors receive recognition for their achievements.

He said: “The windscreen wiper, something everybody uses, was invented by Mary Anderson in 1903. It’s just one example of an incredible invention thought up by a woman, but no one has any idea, and it’s just wrong.”

Mr Baylis, who has lived in Eel Pie Island in Twickenham since 1970, said it was a huge honour to be recognised with the CBE.

He said: “I’m a very lucky boy and hopefully what this says is that achievement is more important than qualifications.

“I went to a secondary modern school and wasn’t too bright academically, but my father gave me a Meccano set when I was a youngster and from then on I was an engineer.”