Illustrative image (Photo: vietnamnet.vn) Hanoi (VNA) – An exchange with international scientists, whoare members of the VinFuture Prize Council and Pre-Screening Committee, washeld in Hanoi on January 18, as part of the VinFuture Award Week.
In the first season, the organising board received over 1,200 entriesfrom 654 leading universities, 51 well-known research institutes and 42national science academies globally. Among the 599 innovations in the competition, about100 are made by top 2 percent of the most-cited scientists in the world. Femalescientists in the event accounted for 34.3 percent of the total, many of them winners of Nobel, Breakthrough, Tang and Japan prizes.
The competition drew participants of 60 countries globally, 52.6percent of their projects are from North America and the European Union. Vietnamalso joined in with 17 projects. The result far exceeded the expectation of abrand new prize like VinFuture.
Speaking at the event, Dr. Le Mai Lan, Vice Chairwoman of VinGroup andDesignated Representative of VinFuture Foundation, said over a year ago,billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong and his spouse committed 100 million USD to the establishmentof VinFuture Foundation with an aim to unlock development potentials ofdeveloping nations on the back sci-tech innovations.
Prof. Albert PaulPisano from the University of California, San Diego, the US, who is co-Chairmanof the VinFuture Prize Pre-screening Committee, said the awards recognisescientists’ efforts that could impact millions of lives, adding that there arefew awards that honour and connect scientists right from the stage of ideationto implementation and connectivity.
He said atfirst, the committee expected to receive about 200 entries, but it turned outto triple that.
Prof. NguyenThuc Quyen from the University of California, Co-Chairwoman of the committee, said what makes VinFuture awards outstanding is its vision to bring sci-tech inventionsto the poor.
Scientists at the event (Photo: nhandan.vn) Prof. DangVan Chi, Director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, member of the PrizeCouncil, said he agrees to serve as a jury as the awards honour scientific worksthat fulfill the mission of serving humanity and make positive difference tomillions of lives globally.
According toProf. Richard Henry Friend from the UK’s Cambridge University, Chairman of thePrize Council, entries sent to the competition are not only high in number butalso in quality.
During thisseason, there is a VinFuture Grand Prize worth 3 million USD and three specialprizes, each worth 500,000 USD for female scientists, innovators fromdeveloping nations or outstanding achievements in emerging fields.
Entries willbe reviewed by 12 members of the Pre-Screening Committee and later 11 membersof the Prize Council.
The award ceremonywill take place on January 20 evening./.
