At the award ceremony (Photo: VNA) Managed by the VinFuture Foundation, which was set upby Vingroup Chairman Pham Nhat Vuong and his wife Pham Thu Huong, the annualVinFuture Prize is a global science and technology award to recognisegroundbreaking scientific and technological discoveries.
It comprised a VinFuture Grand Prize valued at 3million USD and three special prizes, each worth 500,000 USD, for femaleinnovators, innovators from developing countries, and those withoutstanding achievements in emerging fields.
Three scientists, namely Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissmanfrom the US and Pieter Rutter Cullis from Canada, were awarded with theVinFuture Grand Prize for their contributions to the development of the mRNAvaccine technology.
Chinese-American scientist Zhenan Bao was awarded with a VinFuturePrize dedicated to female innovators for her research on "electronicskins" capable of stretching, healing like normal skins and arebiodegradable.
South African scientists Salim Abdool Karim and QuarraishaAbdool Karim were awarded a VinFuture Prize dedicated to developing countryinnovators for the invention of a gel with tenofovir, a product for women toprevent HIV infection.
US scientist Omar Yaghi was awarded a VinFuture Prizefor outstanding achievements in emerging fields for his research into water andmaterial science.
Present at the award ceremony, Prime Minister PhamMinh Chinh affirmed that Vietnam prioritises the development of science andtechnology, considering it a strategic breakthrough for socio-economicdevelopment.
The Vietnamese State is stepping up the building ofmechanisms and policies to materialise the Party’s guidelines and promote themobilisation of resources for innovations.
He lauded efforts by the VinFuture Foundation in buildingand developing VinFuture Prize and expressed his hope for new steps inscientific application in Vietnam.
In the first season, the organising board receivedover 1,200 entries from 654 leading universities, 51 well-known researchinstitutes and 42 national science academies globally. Among the 599innovations in the competition, about 100 are made by top 2 percent of themost-cited scientists in the world. Female scientists in the event accountedfor 34.3 percent of the total, many of them winners of Nobel, Breakthrough,Tang and Japan prizes.
The competition drew participants of 60 countriesglobally, 52.6 percent of their projects are from North America and theEuropean Union. Vietnam also joined in with 17 projects./.
VNA
