Over 500 prominent scientists, universities, and recognized organizations from 36 countries, representing six continents have registered to become the Official Nominators for the VinFuture Prize over one month after the Foundation launched its Call for Nominations. Founded by Vingroup Chairman - billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong and his wife - Mrs. Pham Thu Huong, VinFuture Prize is one of the largest global science and technology prizes so far with an annual value of VND104.5 billion (US$4.5 mil).

VinFuture focuses on technology research works which have positive and large-scale impacts on the daily lives of millions of people around the world.

Dr. Le Mai Lan, Vice Chairwoman of Vingroup and Designated Representative of the VinFuture Foundation, said: “There have been enthusiastic responses and positive feedback from the scientific community about VinFuture Prize. Particularly, up to now, more than 500 recognized organizations and  individuals from 36 countries all over the world have registered to make nominations in just over one month after we launched the Call for Nominations.”

Among more than 500 recognized scientists, universities and organizations registering to serve as Official Nominators for the Prize, the majority are from Asia (35,6%), North America (32%), and followed by those in Europe (21.7%), Oceania (7.2%), and Latin America and Africa (3.5%).

Regarding the areas of expertise of the organizational/individual nominators, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the urgent demand in healthcare, nominators in the field of biomedical research constitute a large proportion of 29.2%, followed by chemistry-physics (23.6%), computer science, data, artificial intelligence, and robotics (16.3%), and environment, renewable energy and new materials (18.3%). The remaining are individual/organizational nominators in the interdisciplinary fields.

The nominators are globally influential experts, reputable researchers, and scientists, laureates of international prestigious science and technology prizes, as well as renowned universities, academies, research institutes, technology corporations and innovation incubators from 36 different countries. Notably, there have been favorable responses from scientists at leading universities and research institutes in the world, such as the Harvard University (USA), where many prominent scientists converge; the National Institutes of Health (NIH, USA) - the lead agency of the U.S. government in public health; the Max Planck Society (Germany)- the world's leading research organization in science and technology; the  University of Cambridge, the University of  Oxford, which are well-known for natural  science and engineering, being home to many Nobel Laureates; the  University of Tokyo-  the leading higher education organization in Japan and the Chinese Academy of Science, one of the world's largest research organizations.

Science and technology solutions/innovations nominated for the VinFuture Prize should have already benefited millions of people in the past 10 years for the Grand Prize, or have the potential to benefit millions of people in the next 10 years for the Special Prizes.

Prof. Sir Richard Henry Friend – Chair of the VinFuture Prize Council, Professor from the University of Cambridge, commented that: “We need cooperation on a global scale to tackle the global challenges we now face, such as infectious diseases, public health and climate change. For these, we now recognise that science and technology must deliver benefits to all peoples and all nations.”

Meanwhile Prof. Gérard Mourou who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018 - a member of the VinFuture Prize Council, claimed that: “I believe in VinFuture Prize and expect that its grand value will encourage the world's leading scientists to work together and solve the challenges that we now and will face.”

“The favorable responses from the global sci-tech community boost our confidence in VinFuture’s mission to serve humanity and in its introduction at the right time meeting the right demand, as well as confirming the endorsement and support from the sci-tech community, academies and societies, universities, and incubators around the world. The fact that the Prize is introduced whilst we are facing global challenges has been a motivation for VinFuture to continue looking for well-deserved and impactful scientific innovations and solutions that may bring about meaningful change to the humanity.”, said Dr. Mai Lan.