The Prize Council held its inaugural meeting on January 20, 2021, agreeing that nominations will be sought from all nations and on a global scale.(Photo: VNA) Such impressive figure demonstrates the enthusiastic response from the worldsscientific community to this newly established sci-tech prize as well asVinFuture’s mission of serving humanity.
The VinFuture Prize officially launched its call for nominationson February 3, and has so far attracted more than 500 recognized scientists,universities and organizations around the world to serve as Official Nominatorsfor the Prize. The majority of nominators are from Asia (35,6 percent) and NorthAmerica (32 percent), followed by those in Europe (21.7 percent), Oceania (7.2percent) and Latin America and Africa (3.5 percent).
Regarding the areas of expertise of theorganizational/individual nominators, due to the impact of the COVID-19pandemic and the urgent demand in healthcare, nominators in the field ofbiomedical research constitute a large proportion of 29.2 percent, followed bychemistry-physics (23.6 percent); computer science, data, artificialintelligence, and robotics (16.3 percent); and environment, renewable energyand new materials (18.3 percent). The remaining are individual/organizationalnominators in the interdisciplinary fields.
The nominators are globally influential experts, reputable researchers, andscientists, laureates of international prestigious science and technologyprizes, as well as renowned universities, academies, research institutes,technology corporations and innovation incubators from 36 different countries.Notably, there have been favorable responses from scientists at leadinguniversities and research institutes in the world, such as the HarvardUniversity (the US), where many prominent scientists converge; the NationalInstitutes of Health (NIH, the US) - the lead agency of the US government inpublic health; the Max Planck Society (Germany)- the worlds leading researchorganization in science and technology; the University of Cambridge, theUniversity of Oxford, which are well-known for natural science and engineering,being home to many Nobel Laureates; the University of Tokyo - the leadinghigher education organization in Japan and the Chinese Academy of Science, oneof the worlds largest research organizations.
Le Mai Lan, Vice Chairwoman of VinGroup cum DesignatedRepresentative of the VinFuture Foundation remarked: “VinFuture Prize is a newinitiative and is also the first science and technology prize originating fromVietnam”. The more than 500 nominations in just over one month after the Callfor Nominations was launched is an impressive figure boosting confidence inVinFuture’s mission to serve humanity and in its introduction at the right timemeeting the right demand, as well as confirming the endorsement and supportfrom the sci-tech community, academies and societies, universities, andincubators around the world.
“The fact that the Prize is introduced whilst we are facing global challengeshas been a motivation for VinFuture to continue looking for well-deserved andimpactful scientific innovations and solutions that may bring about meaningfulchange to the humanity,” she noted.
The VinFuture Prize is a global science and technology prizefounded by Chairman of VinGroup Pham Nhat Vuong and his wife, Pham Thu Huong,to recognize groundbreaking scientific discovery and technological inventionsproven to create or have the potential to create better change in the everydaylives of millions of people and foster a sustainable living environment forfuture generations.
Apart from the VinFuture Grand Prize of 70 billion VND (equivalent to 3 millionUSD – one of the largest global prizes), three Special Prizes of 11.5 billionVND each (500,000 USD) will be awarded annually to innovators from developingcountries, female innovators and innovators with outstanding achievements inemerging fields.
The Call for Nominations for the 2021 VinFuture Prize isavailable at www.vinfutureprize.org until June 7th, 2021. The laureates will beannounced in December 2021 and the official award ceremony will be held inVietnam in January 2022./.
VNA
