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VinFuture Prize

The VinFuture Prize is an annual international award that honors remarkable scientific breakthroughs and promotes innovations for mankind, with involvement from scientists, policymakers, business leaders, and prize holders.

VinFuture Prize
Awarded forGroundbreaking scientific discoveries and technological innovations that have the potential to make a significant difference on a large scale.
CountryVietnam
Presented byThe VinFuture Foundation
Reward(s)The VinFuture Grand Prize with award money of 70 billion VND, approx. 3 million US$, and three additional prizes including Female Innovators Prize, Developing Country Innovators Prize, and Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields Prize with the value of 500,000 US$ each (2021)
First awarded2021; 3 years ago (2021)
Websitevinfutureprize.org

The vision of the VinFuture Prize is to catalyze meaningful change in people's everyday lives through tangible and highly scalable improvements in areas such as productivity, prosperity, connectivity, health, safety, environment, sustainability, as well as their overall happiness regardless of socioeconomic status.[1]

History

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Establishment

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Since 2017, Vietnam has been working to integrate a more comprehensive STEM education and encourage more individuals to pursue careers in the area. With an influx of STEM students in colleges and internationally trained professionals, Vietnam has enormous potential in science and technology. Vietnam has gained widespread praise from the international scientific community for its recent exceptional efforts in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. However, scientific research and development in Vietnam continue to encounter various obstacles, including a lack of funds, support, and infrastructure. VinGroup, one of the most powerful Vietnamese conglomerates, is investing in the world's most extraordinary brains in the STEM field with the launch of VinFuture Foundation in 2020, to help leverage Vietnam's position on the global science map.

Founders

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Chairman Phạm Nhật Vượng and his wife, Mrs. Phạm Thu Hương, founded the VinFuture Foundation as an independent organization with the mission of honoring breakthrough innovations in science and technology that have the potential to improve the lives of millions of people in Vietnam and around the world. With the annual worldwide award – VinFuture Prize – marking its inaugural event in 2021, the Foundation hopes to honor and inspire such innovations.

The VinFuture Prize Council

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The Prize Council is responsible for reviewing and ratifying the fields of focus and the selection process, as well as selecting the VinFuture Laureates.[2]

Honorary members

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The VinFuture Prize Pre-Screening Committee

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The Pre-Screening Committee is responsible for reviewing and identifying qualified nominations in accordance with the selection criteria set by the Prize Council and preparing supporting documents for the shortlist before presenting them to the Prize Council.[3]

Honorary members

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Award process

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Nomination

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Many nominations were compiled and qualified by the VinFuture Prize Secretariat, scientists in natural science, health science, agriculture, earth science, environmental science, computer science, and engineering – technology, along with experts in artificial intelligence, renewable energy, biotechnology, new materials, environmental conservation, and other fields, before the Pre-screening Round. Compilation and qualification checks are crucial steps in the process of validating each nomination's eligibility and fulfillment, as well as gathering meaningful and diverse data for the overall evaluations. To guarantee scientific integrity, impartiality, and openness, all nominations will be evaluated using rigorous international standards-based review methods. The reward is open to anybody from anywhere, regardless of nationality, gender, age, or economic status.[citation needed]

The nominations will be evaluated by the VinFuture Prize Pre-screening Committee, which is made up of scientists and experts from leading universities, research institutions, technological and industrial organizations around the world, based on three core criteria: scientific and technological advancement, meaningful changes in people's lives, and scale of impact and sustainability. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, together with VinFuture's purpose of making substantial improvements in the lives of millions of people, must be adhered to by the selected candidates.[4][5]

Selection

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The VinFuture Prize Council will assess the process and choose four ground-breaking scientific discoveries that have had and will continue to have a beneficial impact on millions of people across the world. They are required to draw reasonable conclusions based on a variety of perspectives and in consideration of all professional disciplines, scientific domains, and civilizations. The prize winners will be announced at the VinFuture Prize Award Ceremony.[6]

Annually, the VinFuture Prize awards a total of four prizes, including the Grand Prize and three special prizes. The Grand Prize gives $3 million to groundbreaking research or creative technological advancements that improve human lives and enhance equitability and sustainability for future generations. The following are the three special awards, each of which will receive $500,000 in funding:[7]

  • Special Prize for an excellent researcher or innovator from a developing-nation institute.
  • Special Prize for an outstanding female researcher or innovator.
  • Special Prize for groundbreaking discovery or invention in an emerging field of science or technology that has the potential to make a substantial beneficial impact on mankind in the future.

Award ceremony

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The Sci-Tech Week and VinFuture Award Ceremony is held on an annual basis, promoting Vietnam as a new destination for global science and technology and laying the groundwork for a multilateral link between Vietnam's scientific and technological community and the rest of the globe.[8][9]

The Sci-Tech Week

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The VinFuture Sci-Tech Week is a major event that draws thousands of scientists, politicians, and entrepreneurs from all over the world. Scientists will gather in Vietnam to participate in the four main events of the VinFuture Sci-Tech Week's: a conversation with the Prize Council and Pre-screening Committee, a "Science for Life" Symposium, the inaugural VinFuture Award Ceremony, and a Scientific Dialogue with the inaugural VinFuture Prize Laureates.[8]

The VinFuture Award Ceremony

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The VinFuture Award Ceremony will be a formal event attended by Vietnamese government leaders, scientists, and recipients of scientific honors such as the Nobel Prize, Millennium Technology Prize, Turing Award, and others. The Award Ceremony will be broadcast live on local as well as global science and technology platforms.[8]

Laureates

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Year Ceremony Date Prize name Laureate Nationality Citation
2021 20 January 2022 The VinFuture Grand Prize Katalin Karikó   Hungary
  United States 		for making a significant contribution to the development of mRNA vaccination technology.[10][11]
Drew Weissman   United States
Pieter Cullis   Canada
Female Innovator Zhenan Bao   United States for research on electronic skins that can stretch and heal like normal skins while also being biodegradable.[10][11]
Developing Country Innovator Salim Abdool Karim   South Africa for the development of a tenofovir gel that can be used to prevent HIV infection in women.[10][11]
Quarraisha Abdool Karim
Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields Omar M. Yaghi   United States for designing and synthesizing new types of reticular compounds such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), and covalent organic frameworks (COFs).[10][11]
2022 20 December 2022 The VinFuture Grand Prize Tim Berners-Lee   United Kingdom for ground-breaking research on global network technology, allowing all forms of information to be reliably communicated, transferred, and shared at the speed of light.[12]
Vint Cerf   United States
Emmanuel Desurvire   France
Bob Kahn   United States
David N. Payne   United Kingdom
Female Innovator Pamela Ronald   United States for breakthroughs in isolating the Sub1A gene which facilitated the development of submergence tolerant rice varieties, helping feed millions of people in South and Southeast Asia.[12]
Developing Country Innovator Thalappil Pradeep   India for development of a low-cost filtration system to remove arsenic and other heavy metals from groundwater, helping hundreds of millions of people around the world living with contaminated water get access to clean water.[12]
Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields Demis Hassabis   United Kingdom for pioneering work on AlphaFold 2, an artificial intelligence program that has revolutionized the modeling of protein structures, accelerating advances in biomedicine, health, and agriculture.[12]
John Jumper
2023 20 December 2023 The VinFuture Grand Prize Martin Green   Australia for revolutionary innovations that contribute to establishing a sustainable foundation for green energy by utilizing solar cells for production and Lithium-ion batteries for storage.[13][14]
M. Stanley Whittingham   United States
Rachid Yazami   Morocco
Akira Yoshino   Japan
Female Innovator Susan Solomon   United States for uncovering the mechanism of ozone depletion in Antarctica, which played a key role in the development of the Montreal Protocol.[13][14]
Developing Country Innovator Gurdev Khush   United States for their noteworthy efforts in developing and promoting disease-resistant rice varieties, such as IR36 and IR64, thereby safeguarding global food security.[13][14]
Võ Tòng Xuân   Vietnam
Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields Daniel J. Drucker   Canada for identifying the function of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), leading to the development of widely utilized treatments for diabetes and obesity, and fostering new applications for addressing neurodegenerative diseases.[13][14]
Joel Habener   United States
Svetlana Mojsov
Jens Juul Holst   Denmark

Entertainment

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Year Artist Venue Performed song(s)
2021 John Legend Hanoi Opera House
2022 Christina Aguilera Hanoi Opera House
2023 Katy Perry Hồ Gươm Opera

Reception

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Professor Sir Richard Henry Friend, Chairman of the VinFuture Prize Council and the Cavendish Professorship of Physics at the University of Cambridge (UK), said: "I am really impressed by the very constructive response from the nominators. We clearly have a broad set of really interesting and exciting nominations. I think there has been real enthusiasm from nominators across the whole world about this prize. That is certainly the impression I have picked up from the enquiries I have received. The connection between science discovery and real impact on everyday lives is really welcomed."[15] "I think that science and technology play a very central role in the development of both economies and societies. The scientific approach has underpinned huge increases in living standards and has allowed unprecedented access to education for all. It does support new businesses, and it does also inform societies about steps that have to be taken in the future.", said Prof. Friend.[16][17]

Nobel Prize Laureate Sir Konstantin Novoselov commented: "VinFuture Prize will contribute to the promotion of diversity and inclusion in the global scientific community".[18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Facts about VinFuture Award Founders value council more". Vietnamtimes. 21 January 2022.
  2. ^ "The VinFuture Prize Council".
  3. ^ "The VinFuture Prize Pre-Screening Committee".
  4. ^ "VinFuture Award Ceremony Week – A gathering of global science quintessences". Taiwan News. 11 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Funding the Future". CNBC.
  6. ^ "Inaugural VinFuture Prize Award Ceremony – Celebrating 4 Scientific Innovations For Humanity". 20 December 2021. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021.
  7. ^ Racoma, J. Angelo (21 December 2020). "Vietnamese billionaire launches VinFuture Prize to support R&D and tech innovations, pledges $4.5M annual funding". TechNode Global.
  8. ^ a b c "VinFuture Award Ceremony Week – A Gathering Of Global Science Quintessences". 12 January 2022.
  9. ^ Las, Danny (4 May 2021). "Promoting breakthrough scientific research and technological innovations [Q&A with Vingroup's Dr. Le Mai Lan]". Tech Node.
  10. ^ a b c d "Vietnam awards $3 mln prize to mRNA vaccine researchers". VnExpress. 20 January 2022.
  11. ^ a b c d "Three scientists with mRNA vaccine technology receive the $3 million VinFuture prize". Tuổi Trẻ (in Vietnamese). 20 January 2022.
  12. ^ a b c d "Winners of the Second Ever VinFuture Prize Awards Unveiled". VinFuture Foundation. Cision US Inc. Cision PR Newswire. 20 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  13. ^ a b c d "VinFuture Prize 2023 honours 4 scientists". VietNamNet. 21 December 2023.
  14. ^ a b c d Nhu, Quynh (21 December 2023). "Battery researchers win $3M Vietnamese awards". VnExpress.
  15. ^ "'Really interesting and exciting nominations' in inaugural year: VinFuture Prize Council Chair".
  16. ^ "'Really interesting and exciting nominations' in inaugural year: VinFuture Prize Council Chair". Việt Nam News. 22 January 2021.
  17. ^ Friend, Richard (27 December 2021). "Science and technology are the key to a sustainable future – we must incentivise innovation". The Independent. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022.
  18. ^ "Nobel Prize winner Sir Kostya Novoselov: "VinFuture Prize will contribute to the promotion of diversity and inclusion in the global scientific community"". The Statesman. 16 September 2021.
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