 Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (second from right) present awards to 2021 VinFuture winners. (Photo: Giang Huy/ VnExpress) |
Owing to the Prize’s reputation since its inaugural year and the meaningful and practical theme of its second season, VinFuture has received a large number of high-quality nominations – some 1,000 research projects from 71 countries on six continents (nearly double the 599 nominations received in 2021). 584 of this year’s nominations came from the world’s 2% most-cited scientists. Notable nominations include innovations in healthcare, food production, the environment, and sustainable development.
All nominations went through a rigorous assessment conducted by the 12 members of the Pre-Screening Committee and the 11 members of the Prize Council, who are all world-renowned scientists from various fields of academia, research, and industry.
Professor Dan. M. Kammen, a member of the Vinfuture 2022 Award Council, said: “On one hand, it’s critical that we start the process of making innovation a partnership worldwide and with us emerging form COVID, getting people back together, working in teams, deciding what are critical questions. Food security, clean energy, equality between genders and sexes, these are all things that this kind of prize can highlight and these are all the topics that we need to get the teams back together and we just need to invest in innovation now.”
Four prizes are awarded by the VinFuture Prize Foundation every year. The VinFuture Grand Prize, worth 3 million USD, is one of the world’s largest annual prizes. VinFuture also awards three Special Prizes, each worth 500,000 USD, for female innovators, developing country innovators, and innovators with outstanding achievements in emerging fields.
In addition, the Foundation conducts many activities to fulfill its mission: funding academic activities, catalyzing intellectual connections, collaborating in sci-tech development, and promoting STEM education.
Professor Kammen said: “This is an area where we in the US need to learn form Vietnam because you have a high percentage of women professors. Women lab leaders than we do. And in my laboratory in the University of California, Berkeley, we are proud that we have many women compromise group become professors. Many people are from Africa, Southeast Asia. We need much more diversity at the top level to make our research topic benefit everyone.”
The VinFuture Foundation was co-founded by Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong, Chairman of Vingroup, and his wife Pham Thu Huong, Vice-Chairwoman of Vingroup, to honor breakthroughs in science and technology and create meaningful change in the lives of millions of people.
VinFuture connects brilliant minds in science and technology communities around the world, unlocking the infinite potential of global intelligence. The Foundation also creates opportunities to build multi-dimensional cooperative networks between scientists and entrepreneurs to solve pressing global challenges, especially in developing countries, and promote the effective and sustainable application of scientific innovations.