VinFuture Prize 2022 officially announces commencement of the pre-screening round

HANOI, VIETNAM – Media OutReach – 19 May 2022 – On May 18^th, 2022 – The commencement of VinFuture Pre-Screening Round has been officially announced. Honoring the theme of “Reshaping and Reviving”, the VinFuture Prize has received a total of 970 nominations, submited by prestigious scientists and institutions from more than 70 countries in six continents for its second award season.

Under this year’s theme, nominations are centered around important research works and inventions that can help revive the post-pandemic world by solving humanity’s most pressing challenges related to health and the food supply, the environment and sustainable energy, as well as the application of technology in all aspects of life.

Currently leading in number of nominators is Asia with 34.6% of the total accepted nominators, followed by the Americas with 29.8%, Europe with 16.2%, and Oceania with 7%. Notably this year, Africa has 12.4% of the nominators, six times higher than its share in 2021.

In terms of quality, 584 out of 2618 nominators of the VinFuture Prize’s second season are individual nominators from the top 2% of most-cited researchers in the world, and 37.1% are from the world’s top 500 universities and research institutions, such as Harvard University, Stanford University, Yale University (U.S.A), University of Oxford (U.K.), Karolinska Institute (Sweden), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, National University of Singapore, Tsinghua University (China), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (South Africa), Cairo University (Egypt), and many other leading universities and institutions globally.

The VinFuture Pre-Screening round consists of a rigorous evaluation process based on the highest international standards in order to ensure scientific integrity, fairness, and transparency. The VinFuture Pre-Screening Committee will assess the nominations according to a set of core criteria, which includes the degree of scientific or technological advancement, the level of impact on people’s lives, as well as the project’s scale and sustainability.

Dr. Lê Thái Hà, Managing Director of the VinFuture Prize, shared, “Witnessing the consequences of two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, VinFuture recognizes its role in contributing to, and promoting, the global process of post-pandemic revival, aiming ultimately for sustainable development. With the theme of “Reshaping & Reviving”, the VinFuture Prize 2022 has gathered leading scientists from a variety of science and technology fields from across the world to increase the number of multi-dimensional perspectives in the nomination evaluation process. From this, we hope to find scientific solutions to the world’s pressing problems, and to simultaneously inspire and disseminate the great values that science and technology can bring in different sectors to new countries and territories, particularly in vulnerable areas.“

With the official commencement of the Pre-Screening round, the 2022 VinFuture Prize has announced three additional scientists to join its Scientific Councils this season.

Professor Dan Kammen from the University of California, Berkeley (U.S.A), the former Science Envoy for the U.S. State Department, one of the world’s leading experts in the field of energy, will be officially joining the VinFuture Prize Council from 2022.

The two other new professors joining the VinFuture Pre-Screening Council for the second season include Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim – The 2016 L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Laureate, one of the Inaugural VinFuture Prize Laureates, and Professor Ermias Kebreab – the Director of the University of California, Davis World Food Center.

Sharing his thoughts about his new role, Professor Dan Kammen said, “I was especially impressed by VinFuture’s realistic message, as well as the mission of science and technology that has been disseminated through VinFuture’s humanitarian angle. I have high expectations for not only the quality, but also the applicability of the scientific nominations to real life. As a scientist who is dedicated to science for humanity, being able to participate in evaluating the nominations and choosing the scientific inventions and innovations to be the next Prize winners is a meaningful and enjoyable mission.“

The 2022 VinFuture Pre-Screening round takes place from May 18^th to late September, 2022 and aims to enable the Council to meticulously evaluate the most impactful and award-worthy works to proceed to the final round.

VinFuture Prize Council:
– Professor Sir Richard Henry Friend, FRS – University of Cambridge, UK, Millennium Technology Laureate in Physics 2010.
– Professor Gérard Albert Mourou – École Polytechnique Palaiseau, France, Nobel Laureate in Physics 2018.
– Professor Sir Konstantin (Kostya) S. Novoselov, FRS – University of Manchester, UK and National University of Singapore, Nobel Laureate in Physics 2010.
– Professor Michael Eugene Porter – Harvard Business School, USA, creator of the theory “Competitive Advantage of Nations”.
– Professor Leslie Gabriel Valiant, FRS – Harvard University, USA, A.M. Turing Laureate 2010.
– Dr. Padmanabhan Anandan – AI Matters Advisors LLC, USA.
– Professor Jennifer Tour Chayes – University of California, Berkeley, USA.
– Professor Pascale Cossart – Pasteur Institute of Paris, France.
– Professor Van-Chi Dang – Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, USA.
– Dr. Xuedong David Huang – Microsoft, USA.
– Professor Dan Kammen – University of California, Berkeley, USA.
– Professor Ha-Van Vu – Yale University, USA and VinBigdata Institute, Vingroup, Vietnam.

VinFuture Pre-Screening Committee:
– Professor Thuc-Quyen Nguyen – University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.
– Professor Albert P. Pisano – University of California, San Diego, USA.
– Professor Mônica Alonso Cotta – Institute of Physics “Gleb Wataghin”, University of Campinas, Brazil.
– Professor Ngoc-Minh Do – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA and VinUniversity, Vietnam.
– Mr. Akihisa Kakimoto – Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Japan.
– Prof. Quarraisha Abdool Karim – CAPRISA Center for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
– Professor Ermias Kebreab – University of California, Davis, USA.
– Professor Duc-Thu Nguyen – Rutgers University, USA.
– Professor Alta Schutte – University of New South Wales and The George Institute for Global Health, Australia.
– Professor Molly Shoichet – University of Toronto, Canada.
– Professor Vivian Yam – The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

About the VinFuture Foundation:

The VinFuture Foundation, established on December 20th, 2020 on the occasion of International Human Solidarity Day, is an independent, not-for-profit foundation initiated by Mr. Phạm Nhật Vượng, and his wife, Madam Phạm Thu Hương.

The mission and vision of the Foundation is to create meaningful changes in the everyday lives of millions of people in the world. The core activity of the Foundation is awarding the annual VinFuture Prize to technological innovations that have already contributed or have the potential to contribute to the betterment of life for millions of human beings globally.

The VinFuture Prize consists of four prize categories, of which the Grand Prize – with a value of US$3 million – is one of the largest annual global prizes, and three additional Special Prizes, worth US$500,000 each, are dedicated to Female Innovator(s), Innovator(s) from Developing Country(ies), and Innovator(s) with Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields.

In addition, the Foundation also conducts many activities to realize its mission, such as funding research, collaborating in academic development, and promoting STEM education.


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