Which scientific stars will light up the sky of knowledge at VinFuture Week 2025?

Professor Raymond Kai-yu Tong - the man who restored mobility to patients with robots

At the program "Inspirational Speech: Future Breakthrough Technology" (morning of December 2, 2025), Professor Raymond Kai-yu Tong (Chinese University of Hong Kong, China) will bring stories that touch the humanistic depth of science .

Professor Raymond Kai-yu Tong will bring to the VinFuture stage live presentations and interactions with technology that helps patients recover. (Photo: CUHK)

For more than a decade, he has been relentlessly pursuing the goal of restoring mobility to humans. The soft robots he has developed have helped thousands of patients recover from strokes, trauma, or neurodegenerative diseases, regaining movements they thought were lost forever.

Professor Raymond Tong is in the top 2% of the world's most cited scientists and has received a series of prestigious awards such as "Global Influencer on Aging 2021", Grand Prix at the Geneva International Invention Exhibition, First Prize in the eHealth category at the Asia- Pacific Information and Communications Technology Awards 2012.

Associate Professor César de la Fuente - The "pioneer" of AI into medicine

As a speaker at the panel discussion “AI for Humanity - AI Ethics and Safety in the New Era” (afternoon of December 2, 2025), Associate Professor César de la Fuente (University of Pennsylvania, USA) is considered a pioneer in “leading the way” for AI in medicine. He holds many prestigious awards, including the Fleming Prize, the Sloan Fellowship Research Award, along with a series of patents and nearly 200 scientific publications in prestigious journals.

Associate Professor César de la Fuente is an expert in Machine Biology at the University of Pennsylvania (USA). (Photo: GCiencia)

His career was defined by his research that combined AI, biology, and medicine to develop the first computer-designed antibiotic, which was proven effective in animals. This work opened a new era: Drug discovery using algorithms and machine learning models. Thanks to this method, his team shortened the drug discovery process from years to hours - speeding up discovery by millions of times and saving years of research.

Professor Chuanbin Mao - "Architect" of modern biomedicine

For the first time in Vietnam, Prof. Chuanbin Mao (Chinese University of Hong Kong, China) will be a speaker at the Seminar: "Advances in disease detection, diagnosis and treatment" (morning of December 3, 2025).

Professor Chuanbin Mao is among the top 2% of the world's most cited scientists in the field of biomedical engineering. (Photo: CUHK)

He is known for his pioneering research on phage-based biomaterials, applications in biosensors, nanomedicine, regenerative medicine and antibacterial treatment. The small molecules he researches are considered the “foundation bricks” for the future of medicine, where technology and biology meet to build human health.

Prof. Chuanbin Mao has more than 300 scientific works, has received the CAREER Award from the US National Science Foundation, the CAPA Outstanding Young Lecturer Award, and the National Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award (China). He also participates as a member of many prestigious scientific organizations.

Professor Raphaël Mercier - the man who turned the dream of asexual seeds into reality

As a speaker at the Seminar: “Innovation in Agriculture and Food” (afternoon of December 3, 2025), Prof. Raphaël Mercier (Max Planck Institute for Plant Genetics, Germany) is a leading figure in molecular genetics.

Prof. Raphaël Mercier is currently Director of the Department of Chromosome Biology at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Genetics (Germany). (Photo: MPG.de)

Professor Raphaël Mercier is famous for his research identifying key genes such as FANCM, RECQ4, FIGL1, opening up the possibility of controlling gene combinations - the key to improving the productivity and quality of crop varieties.

His achievement, which has put him among the world’s most prominent geneticists, is the creation of asexual seeds, which maintain hybrid vigor without the need for crossbreeding over generations. This technology is expected to help global agriculture adapt better to climate change, while increasing productivity and reducing the cost burden for farmers.

Prof. Tan Yap Peng - A bridge between international research and the Vietnamese knowledge ecosystem

Attending the Seminar on “Robots and Intelligent Automation” (morning of December 4, 2025), Prof. Tan Yap Peng (President of VinUni University) brought a perspective on the harmony between international research and the development of the knowledge ecosystem in Vietnam.

Professor Tan Yap Peng is a renowned scientist in image and video processing, computer vision, AI and big data. (Photo: VinUniversity)

Prior to joining VinUni, he spent more than two decades with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU, ranked 12th in the QS World University Rankings 2025), and was previously the Acting Dean of the School of Engineering (COE), NTU.

Professor Tan is recognized for his contributions to developing the strengths of COE, raising COE's position globally, helping COE become the best school in Asia and the world's leading school in the field of electricity and electronics.

Prof. Aldo Steinfeld - pioneer in capturing CO₂ and creating fuel from sunlight

In the context of the world's efforts to transition to clean energy, the research of Professor Aldo Steinfeld (ETH Zürich, Switzerland) brings new hope - shared by him at the Seminar: "Science & Innovation for a Sustainable Future" (afternoon of December 4, 2025).

Prof. Aldo Steinfeld from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), Recipient of the International Energy Agency's SolarPACES Lifetime Achievement Award 2024. (Photo: Academia Engelberg)

Prof. Steinfeld focuses on thermo-chemical engineering in solar energy technology, with in-depth research on heat transfer, multiphase reaction flows, and redox materials.

From the lab to reality, two technology companies bearing his mark have been born: Climeworks - a global leader in technology to capture CO₂ directly from the air; Synhelion - technology to produce fuel from solar energy. Inventions that were once only in science fiction novels have now entered real life, proving the stature of a scientist from one of the world's leading universities.

VinFuture 2025 Science and Technology Week is not only an occasion to honor breakthrough research projects that contribute to bringing a better life to billions of people on earth, but also a place where the world's elite converge to open up new approaches for the future of humanity. From AI, robotics and automation technology, biomedicine, genetics, agriculture to green energy, VinFuture 2025 is the meeting point of great, sustainable and humane changes.

Ha An

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/ngoi-sao-khoa-hoc-nao-se-thap-sang-bau-troi-tri-thuc-tai-tuan-le-vinfuture-2025-ar988502.html