Science prizes like VinFuture are catalysts for innovation

Faith in science is growing

Every October, the Nobel Prizes become the focus of the world . While we can predict which fields will be honored at the award ceremony, I often do not know about the side stories, journeys and hidden corners of the outstanding scientists - Nobel Prize winners have gone through.

These stories are often inspirational and surprising, serving as a powerful reminder that despite the great strides science has made, nature still holds many mysteries waiting to be discovered .

The Nobel Prize and other global science awards play a vital role in celebrating outstanding and innovative scientific achievements. This is all the more important as scientific breakthroughs help us find solutions to the biggest problems facing humanity, such as disease and climate change.

Recognition of scientific achievement through awards is important for individuals and research groups, and is also essential for increasing the visibility of innovations outside the scientific community. However, the link between discovery and impact is not always clearly communicated to the public.

Members of the VinFuture Prize Council during an exchange with young Vietnamese scientists and students on December 18, 2022.

A notable exception is the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, which was completed in record time and has been recognized by various awards around the world. Public interest in science during that period was high as the world sought to escape the pandemic.

Not only that, but the global media attention to these breakthroughs has contributed to a strengthening of the relationship between the public and the scientific community. A recent survey conducted by the Genetics Society in the UK, which collected the opinions of more than 2,000 adults, found that trust in science, and in particular genetics, has increased significantly during the pandemic.

This trust is important if we want to apply research to real life, especially when community involvement is needed, such as in vaccine rollout.

The VinFuture Prize's motivational mission

In addition to announcing specific works, global awards also carry another equally important mission: to motivate, energize and inspire future innovators.

Prize money can also be used to finance, whether awarded to individuals or labs. The money can be reinvested in research, supporting teams working on additional projects, or projects with high potential for profit but high risk.

I am the Chairman of the VinFuture Prize Council – a global prize established in 2020 to honor scientific research and innovation that brings direct and widespread benefits to humanity. Currently, the VinFuture Prize is accepting nominations for its third season, with a Main Prize worth $3 million and three Special Prizes, each worth $500,000.

The main winners of VinFuture 2022 during the exchange with VinUni University students on December 21, 2022.

One of the unique features of the VinFuture Prize is that there is no limit to the number of authors who can be the main contributors to the project. This is important because many major breakthroughs that create global impact require the collaboration of many different members. Each person is important, but they create a stronger impact when working together.

This is reflected in the main prizes awarded by VinFuture in 2021 and 2022, honoring significant contributions to the development of mRNA technology in COVID-19 vaccines and research on global network technology. With the main prize in 2022, we honored 5 scientists.

One of the goals of global awards like the VinFuture Prize is to honor achievements in emerging and potentially developing fields, such as the group of compounds with crystal structures (linking molecules in 2D and 3D to create extended crystal structures) and AlphaFold 2 – an AI technology capable of modeling protein structures quickly and accurately.

The VinFuture Prize also recognizes the achievements of researchers in developing countries, who often lack the same exposure as their counterparts at larger academic institutions. Last year, for example, we recognized Thalappil Pradeep, a chemist at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, who has developed a low-cost water purification system to remove arsenic and other heavy metals from groundwater.

Despite scientific breakthroughs and continuous innovation that have had a profound impact, there are still many structures that have not been developed to their full potential, despite their potential to play a significant role in addressing global challenges.

Therefore, we need to mobilize all possible resources to encourage and inspire future scientists, because they are the ones who will create important innovative achievements, and scientific awards play a key role in that promotion effort.

Times Higher Education, headquartered in London, UK, is a leading global magazine in the field of higher education. It evaluates and ranks higher education systems globally.

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Source: https://vtc.vn/giai-thuong-khoa-hoc-nhu-vinfuture-la-chat-xuc-tac-cho-su-doi-moi-ar785121.html