VinFuture Prize with global vision

Many scientists who received the VinFuture Prize continue to be honored at international awards - Photo: VF

VinFuture Prize winner receives Nobel Prize

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for its work using artificial intelligence (AI) to "decode" the structure of most proteins has received special attention from the research community because of the great significance of this groundbreaking work. Protein structure is considered a "half-century" problem for the scientific community as well as the world. The biggest bottleneck is predicting protein structure without experimentation.

Notably, among the three winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, two scientists, Dr. Demis Hassabis and Dr. John Jumper, with the above breakthrough work, were honored at the VinFuture special prize for scientists researching new fields in 2022.

At that time, the VinFuture Prize Council recognized the pioneering work on the AlphaFold 2 protein decoding AI system by the two scientists, which has revolutionized protein structure modeling, helping to promote breakthrough developments in the fields of biomedicine, medicine and agriculture.

Previously, the two winners of the VinFuture Prize, Professor Kariko and Dr. Weissman, also won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Appreciating the significance of the project that was soon honored at the VinFuture Award, Prof. Dr. Chu Hoang Ha - Vice President of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology - said that the VinFuture Award Council has shown a far-sighted vision and is on the right track when looking at projects that have a great impact on humanity.

"These are works that not only contribute to the development of science but also to the lives of millions of people," said Professor Ha.

According to Professor Ha, the fact that VinFuture has the same choice as the Nobel Prizes is not a coincidence but also demonstrates VinFuture's vision and ability to anticipate trends. VinFuture has chosen to honor works aimed at areas with great impact such as AI, green energy, food security, public health, etc.

Promoting groundbreaking research

Dr. Nghiem Vu Khai - former Deputy Minister of Science and Technology - said that the early recognition of projects like AlphaFold 2 is the result of VinFuture's correct and global orientation and mission.

According to Dr. Khai, although it was born later, the VinFuture Prize has gathered the quintessence of human intelligence, with new thinking and perspectives and breakthrough methods, making the prize create great influence.

According to Dr. Le Thi Hong Lan (a biotechnology expert), VinFuture is an award that not only focuses on projects with clear achievements but also evaluates the potential for future development, especially discovering and honoring breakthrough projects from VinFuture. "The precise selection of the VinFuture Award not only motivates the award recipients but also makes an important contribution to promoting breakthrough research," said Dr. Lan.

Dr. Lan also believes that VinFuture is increasingly affirming its position in the global scientific community, not only in recognizing scientific achievements but also as a bridge between researchers and new opportunities, thereby contributing to promoting the sustainable development of science and technology in the future.

Meanwhile, Professor Richard Henry Friend - Chairman of the VinFuture Prize Council - said that the VinFuture Prize's broad coverage of most fields of science and technology has been clearly demonstrated through the awarded works and award winners of the previous three seasons.

"The honored fields all affirm their essentiality to human life such as agriculture, healthcare, environmental science, global information technology, renewable energy systems - including solar cells and Lithium-ion batteries. We are honored to be approved by thousands of scientists around the world to become a nominating partner for the VinFuture Prize," he said.

Many VinFuture Prize winners continue to be honored with prestigious international awards, especially the Nobel Prize, showing that the international science and technology award initiated by Vietnamese people is creating an increasingly large influence on the scientific community and humanity.

Record number of nominations

The VinFuture Prize is the core activity of the VinFuture Foundation, a non-profit organization co-founded on December 20, 2020 by billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong - founder of Vingroup, and his wife, Ms. Pham Thu Huong.

The award was established to recognize outstanding inventors and researchers from global universities, research institutes, laboratories and technology industry corporations to honor groundbreaking scientific research and technological innovation, creating meaningful change in the daily lives of millions of people.

In 2024, the VinFuture Prize received 1,469 nominations, an increase of nearly 8 times compared to the first season. Notably, nearly 15% of the nomination partners in this fourth season are authors in the top 2% of the most cited researchers in the world.

The nominations continued to cover a wide range of essential fields such as medicine and healthcare (36.3%), sustainable energy (24.6%), environment and climate change (15.2%), AI applications in multiple disciplines (13.8%) and agriculture (10.1%). The number of international scientists who became official nomination partners of the VinFuture Prize season 4 also increased sharply with a total of 9,101 people, an increase of more than 70% compared to 5,264 partners in the third season.

Dr. Le Thai Ha - Executive Director of VinFuture Foundation - said that most of the nominated projects are the result of cross-border and multidisciplinary cooperation projects, going beyond the limited framework. "VinFuture hopes that by honoring the deserving nominated projects, it will bring positive impacts, contributing to promoting breakthrough scientific and technological initiatives around the world," said Dr. Ha.

The 2024 VinFuture Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place in early December in Hanoi.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/giai-thuong-vinfuture-voi-tam-nhin-toan-cau-20241012093019281.htm