Registration is open until May 15th for the VinFuture Prize, a global award for scientific and technological research that has proven to have a positive impact on humanity. Divided into four categories — Grand Prize, Women Innovators, Innovators from Developing Countries and Exceptional Achievements in Emerging Areas —, it allocates US$3 million for the main category and US$500 for each of the other three placements.
An initiative of the Vietnamese organization VinFuture Foundation, the award reaches its 3rd edition in 2023. The award ceremony and announcement of the winners will be held in December. “The idea is to recognize science as innovation, but within the UN's sustainable development objectives and with an impact on human life”, explains professor Mônica Cotta, director of the Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics (IFGW) at Unicamp and the only member from America Latina member of the committee responsible for the pre-selection of works entered into the VinFuture Prize.
For the Pro-Rector of Research at Unicamp, João Romano, awards such as the VinFuture Prize play a fundamental role in the search for gender equity in the academic environment. “It is an important incentive, to create opportunities for our students and to prevent their talents from being inhibited for unjustifiable reasons”, he points out. But not only. By focusing on emerging countries and areas, the Vietnamese foundation promotes projects aligned with the sustainable development goals of the United Nations. “Brazil has a special vocation and can make a difference in this sense. In the country, we have great research, in different fields, which stand out for being innovative, such as scientific projects on energy transition and clean energy; emerging diseases; water quality, for example.”
In the first edition of the award, in 2021, scientists Katalin Karikó, Drew Weissman and Pieter Cullis won the main category, for their studies that enabled the development of m-RNA technology, fundamental for the production of vaccines against coronavirus. Last year, the winners in the same category were Tim Berners-Lee, Vinton Cerf, Emmanuel Desurvire, Bob Kahn and David Payne, whose work enabled the creation of the internet.
Research with an impact on society
The VinFuture Prize registration period ends in May. So far, warns Mônica, the number of competitors from Latin America is lower than expected, probably because it is a recent initiative and still not very widespread. But it is possible that one of the mandatory conditions for signing up is an obstacle for Latin American interested parties: for the main prize, it is mandatory that the research has impacted millions of people. “In Brazil, for example, a lot of fundamental research is now becoming applied research”, says the professor. “But we certainly have studies that fit what the category requires,” she adds. It is also worth remembering that, in the other three categories of the VinFuture Prize, this requirement is not decisive.
The only way to submit your research to the VinFuture Prize is through a “nominator” (a person, company or institution duly accredited by the Vietnamese foundation to make submissions). Any person, institution or company can become a nominator, as long as they have a career linked to science or technology. To do so, simply contact the foundation.
VinFuture Foundation
The award was created by the VinFuture foundation, based in Vietnam, with the aim of inspiring and recognizing researchers, as well as catalyzing changes in everyday life through concrete improvements, in areas such as productivity, food, health, connectivity, sustainability and happiness.
Founded by Vietnamese entrepreneur Phạm Nhật Vượng and his wife, Phạm Thu Hương, the VinFuture Foundation aims to honor breakthrough innovations in science and technology that have changed millions of lives around the world.
Service:
Visit the official VinFuture Prize website.
Ask any questions via email: secretariat@vinfutureprize.org.
