Nearly 600 nominations submitted for Vietnam’s first-ever global sci-tech prize

HANOI, VIETNAM – Media
OutReach – 10 June 2021 – Vietnam’s
VinFuture Foundation announces that it has officially closed the nomination
portal for the 2021 VinFuture Prize, recording nearly 600 nominations from more
than 60 countries across six continents. The result has exceeded expectations,
particularly for a newly established sci-tech prize opened for nominations less
than four months ago, affirming the global scientific community’s favorable
response to VinFuture’s mission of serving humanity.

 Members of VinFuture Prize Council

With a vision “to create meaningful
change in the everyday lives of millions of people by promoting breakthrough
scientific research and technological innovations”, the VinFuture Foundation
and the VinFuture Prize have drawn great enthusiasm from the global scientific
and technological community.

 

Notably, VinFuture has attracted prominent scientists and
the world’s leading research and academic institutions as well as innovators from developing countries.
Nearly 100 nominated projects belong to the world’s top 2% most-cited scientists, many of whom are laureates of
prestigious awards such as the Nobel Prize, the Breakthrough Prize, the Tang
Prize, the Japan Prize, among others.

 

While the
majority of candidates are from North America (31.6%), Asia (33.9%), and Europe
(21%), VinFuture has received significant nominations from scientists in
Oceania, Latin America, and Africa. In particular, female scientists were
nominated in all four prize categories, accounting for 34.3% of the total
nominees.

 

All share
the same aspiration of doing science for humanity, offering highly applicable
and practical solutions to improve the quality of people’s lives.

 

These positive results are attributed to
the strong support of prominent individuals and organizations, world-renowned
scientists, as well as distinguished
professors and experts from the Prize Council  and Pre-screening
Committee
who have endorsed the VinFuture Prize among the global scientific community.

 

Therefore, just four months after the
initial call for nominations, the Prize has attracted nearly 1,200 nominators
from the world’s most reputable academic circles. These include Harvard
University, where many prominent scientists converge; the  University of
Cambridge and the University of  Oxford, home to many Nobel laureates and
well-known for its natural sciences and engineering programs;
the University of Tokyo, Japan’s leading higher education organization;
and other recognized organizations such as the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) – the leading U.S. government agency in public health, the Max Planck
Society – the world’s leading research organization in science and technology,
and the Chinese Academy of Science, one of the world’s largest research
organizations, to name but a few.

 

“We are very pleased to see
that the VinFuture Prize, while being the first of its kind from Vietnam, has
been received so warmly by the global scientific community. Particularly, many
prominent scientists have been nominated for the Prize. They have made truly
meaningful contributions to the future of humanity by tackling global
challenges from infectious diseases, environmental pollution, climate change to
shortage of natural resources. The nominations for female scientists,
scientists from developing countries, as well as pioneers in emerging fields
are also very impressive,” said Professor Thuc-Quyen Nguyen,
University of California, Santa Barbara, Co-Chair of the VinFuture Prize
Pre-Screening Committee.

In addition to the impressive number of
nominations and the prestige of nominated scientists and researchers, the
VinFuture Prize has also seen an impressive diversity and depth of areas that
address humanity’s common challenges after its inaugural call for nominations. A
significant number of nominated innovations focus on the prevention and
treatment of infectious diseases on a global scale, sustainable poverty
elimination, smart agriculture, clean food supply, renewable energy, and
applications of artificial intelligence and digital technologies in education
and life.

 

Going forward, nominations will
be reviewed by a twelve-member Pre-Screening Committee – prominent scientists
and experts from various disciplines and countries – who will present the
shortlisted candidates to the Prize Council in August 2021.

 

Laureates will then be selected
independently by the Prize Council comprising eleven distinguished individuals
in academia, research, and industry with significant achievements and
contributions to advancing human progress.

 

The VinFuture Grand Prize will be
awarded to innovators whose work has been proven to create the largest impact
on humanity. It is also one of the world’s largest prizes for science and
technology to date, valued at US$ 3 million (equivalent to 70 billion
Vietnamese Dong). Additionally, three special prizes will be awarded to
innovators from developing countries, female innovators, and innovators with
outstanding achievements in emerging fields, each worth US$500,000 (equivalent
to 11.5 billion Vietnamese Dong).

 

The laureates of the 2021
VinFuture Prize will be announced on December 20^th, 2021 and the
official award ceremony will be held in Vietnam on January 20^th,
2022.