Inaugural VinFuture Prize Award Ceremony – Celebrating 4 Scientific Innovations for Humanity

HANOI, VIETNAM – Media OutReach – 20 December 2021 – One year after its launch, the VinFuture Prize Council has completed the evaluation process and selected 4 groundbreaking scientific innovations that have made and will continue to make positive impacts in the everyday lives of millions of people around the world. Prize winners will be announced at the inaugural VinFuture Prize Award Ceremony to be held on January 20, 2022 at the Hanoi Opera House and the VinFuture Sci-tech Week during January 18-21, 2022 in Hanoi.

This is an international event to honor outstanding scientific achievements and promote innovations for humanity in 2021 with the participation of world-leading scientists, policy makers, leaders of technology corporations, and the Prize winners.

The award ceremony will be held on January 20, 2022 evening to honor the winners of the inaugural VinFuture Prize, including the VinFuture Grand Prize and 03 Special Prizes for female innovators, innovators from the developing countries, and innovators with outstanding achievements in emerging fields.

As part of the Award Ceremony event series, VinFuture will organize a sci-tech week for the scientific community, business and start-up leaders in industry and technology. The Foundation will also hold dialogues and interactive sessions with the Prize Council members and the VinFuture Laureates which will catalyze the intellectual connection between Vietnam’s scientific and technological community and the world as well as bridge academia and industry, thus contributing to the transformation of science and technology innovations into real life applications.

Commenting on the upcoming events, Professor Sir Richard Henry Friend – Chair of the VinFuture Prize Council and a 2010 Laureate of the Millennium Prize, said: “Science and technology need to deliver benefits to all peoples and all nations. The VinFuture Prize will recognize those whose brilliant science or engineering achievements can have positive impact on the lives of millions of people across the planet.” 

The VinFuture Foundation is founded by Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong – Chairman of Vingroup, and his wife – Mrs. Pham Thu Huong, with the vision of creating meaningful change in the everyday lives of millions of people. 

In its inaugural year, VinFuture received 599 quality nominations from more than 60 countries around the world. Among these, nearly 100 nominations came from the world’s top 2% most-cited scientists, many of whom are laureates of distinguished awards, such as the Nobel Prize, Breakthrough Prize, Tang Prize, Japan Prize, among others. All the nominations were assessed in multiple evaluation and selection rounds by a 12 member- Pre-screening Committee, and then by 11 members of the Prize Council.

With a large number of quality nominations going through a rigorous assessment process conducted by the Prize Council of globally influential scientists and leaders in academia, research, and innovation, the 2021 VinFuture Prize is expected to identify breakthrough inventions and innovations that will bring about practical applications and meaningful impacts on the everyday lives of people.

Remarkably, the in-person presence of great minds of the global science and technology community at the inaugural VinFuture Prize Award Ceremony and the VinFuture Sci-tech Week will contribute to positioning Vietnam as a new destination full of potentials and open up opportunities to build direct and multi-dimensional cooperative relationships between scientists and entrepreneurs, promoting the commercialization and application of scientific innovations into the real world.

Besides the Laureate Announcement and the Award Ceremony on January 20th, 2022, there will be academic activities taking place from January 18-21, 2022, which include:

– Conversation with the VinFuture Prize Council members

– Symposium: Science for Life 

– Scientific Dialogue with the inaugural VinFuture Prize Laureates.

The VinFuture Prize Foundation, introduced on International Solidarity Day, December 20^th, 2020, is an independent and non-profit organization in Vietnam. The Foundation was established with the vision of catalyzing meaningful change in the everyday lives of millions of people by honoring transformational technological innovations at a global scale.

The Foundation’s core activity is awarding the annual VinFuture Prize for breakthrough scientific and technological innovations that have made or have the potential to create meaningful changes in people’s lives.

In addition, the Foundation will conduct many activities to accomplish its mission, such as funding research projects, collaborating in academic development, and promoting STEMM education.

A total of four prizes are awarded by the VinFuture Prize Foundation every year, consisting of the VinFuture Grand Prize valued at US$3 million – one of the largest ever annual prizes globally. VinFuture also awards 03 Special Prizes, each valued at US$500,000, dedicated to female innovators, developing country innovators, and innovators with outstanding achievements in emerging fields.