Vietnamese scientist: VinFuture on par with science awards

Dr. Demis Hassabis and Dr. John Jumper, winners of the VinFuture 2022 Special Prize, have just won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with their work on an AI model that predicts protein structure.

Experts assess that by gathering many world-famous scientific minds to participate in the Award Council, with a set of evaluation criteria that are appropriate, scientific and effective, VinFuture has affirmed its international reputation and appeal to gather many quality nominations, of great value to humanity, comparable to the world's long-standing prestigious science and technology awards, such as Nobel.

Honoring large-scale works of great significance to humanity

On the afternoon of October 9, 2023 (Vietnam time), Dr. Demis Hassabis (UK) and Dr. John Jumper (USA) - co-winners of the VinFuture 2022 Special Prize for Scientists researching new fields - were awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for creating an AI model to predict protein structure. Also sharing the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is Prof. David Baker (USA) for his protein design algorithm.

Before Dr. Demis Hassabis and Dr. John Jumper, the two first-season VinFuture Grand Prize Winners, Dr. Katalin Karikó and Prof. Drew Weissman, were also honored with the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

In 2020, Dr. Hassabis and Dr. Jumper published an AI model called AlphaFold2. With the help of this model, scientists were able to predict the structures of nearly 200 million proteins previously identified by scientists. To date, AlphaFold2 has been accessed and used by more than half a million researchers from 190 countries to accelerate progress in solving important real -world problems, from plastic pollution to antibiotic resistance…

For over 60 years, scientists have been struggling to find a solution to the great problem of understanding the structure of proteins. Therefore, the birth of AlphaFold2 - an artificial intelligence system that predicts the 3D structure of proteins with unprecedented speed and accuracy, is considered a landmark achievement.

In 2022, when awarding the Special Prize for Scientists researching new fields to Dr. Demis Hassabis and Dr. John Jumper, the VinFuture Prize Council assessed this as a pioneering work that brought about a revolution in protein structure modeling, promoting advances in biomedicine, medicine and agriculture.

The VinFuture Prize is considered to have contributed to promoting research in the field of global science and technology, while enhancing Vietnam's position in the world.

This is not the first time that VinFuture Prize Winners have been honored with prestigious international awards for their inventions that have had a huge positive impact on humanity. Last year, the first two VinFuture Grand Prize Winners, Dr. Katalin Karikó and Prof. Drew Weissman, were also honored with the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work on nucleoside modifications, which helped develop mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.

VinFuture's vision, pioneering spirit and leading international values

The fact that scientists were honored at the VinFuture Prize - the first global science and technology prize initiated by Vietnamese people, and then named by Nobel, makes the domestic scientific community proud.

Dr. Nghiem Vu Khai, former Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, said that the coincidence was not accidental but a testament to the similar level of VinFuture and Nobel. The awarded works are all of international significance and significance, contributing to solving urgent global problems.

The VinFuture Prize is about to enter its 4th season, the number of scientific nominations for the Prize each season is increasing exponentially.

“The fact that VinFuture and Nobel both honor these works affirms that the vision, mission and evaluation criteria of the Vietnam Prize are very close, timely and practical for today's era. VinFuture's orientation and mission are humane, global and correct,” the former Deputy Minister of Science and Technology assessed.

Prof. Dr. Le Anh Tuan, Chairman of the Council of Hanoi University of Science and Technology, also expressed his joy and pride when the VinFuture winners continued to be honored by Nobel. He emphasized that this demonstrates the vision and pioneering nature of the VinFuture Prize at a global level, demonstrating the Prize's leading international value in science, technology and practice.

“The VinFuture Prize has been organized in a scientific, accurate and prestigious manner, gathering many famous scientists in the world to participate in the Prize Council; has a set of evaluation criteria that are appropriate, scientific and effective; and is attractive enough to gather many award nominations with high scientific content and practical value,” Professor Le Anh Tuan assessed.

Sharing the same view, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Chu Hoi, Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Fisheries Society (VINAFIS), Member of the Steering Committee of the Global Ocean Forum (GOF), assessed the above results as a measure of the foresight and vision of the VinFuture International Award. Although "born later", with the right vision, accurate, proactive, along with a qualified Award Council and a set of effective and practical evaluation criteria, VinFuture has reaped "fragrant flowers, sweet fruits". VinFuture has also demonstrated its pioneering and superiority, comparable to long-standing prestigious science and technology awards in the world.

“Bold thinking, correct vision, careful actions and systematic, fundamental organization have helped VinFuture quickly assert its position and gain the trust not only of Vietnamese people, but also affirm its reputation in the international arena. Today and in the future, VinFuture is and will be an inseparable link, an entity of “connection, cooperation and sharing” in the global science and technology award ecosystem,” Associate Professor Chu Hoi commented.

Meanwhile, after 4 years of serving as Chairman of the VinFuture Prize Council, Professor Sir Richard Henry Friend affirmed that VinFuture has attracted strong interest from the world's scientific community. The proof is that the scientific nominations each season are increasing exponentially.

Specifically, entering the 4th season, VinFuture has had the number of international scientists becoming nominating partners up to 9,101, an increase of nearly 8 times, the number of nominations up to 1,469, an increase of 2.5 times compared to the first season. These impressive numbers have shown the stature, spread and international reputation of VinFuture. The award has contributed to promoting research in the field of global science and technology, while enhancing Vietnam's position in the world.

“That is truly inspiring, proving that Vietnam is gradually becoming one of the destinations attracting the world's leading scientific talents,” Professor Friend emphasized.

PV

Source: https://tienphong.vn/nha-khoa-hoc-viet-vinfuture-sanh-ngang-cac-giai-thuong-khoa-hoc-cong-nghe-uy-tin-lau-nam-tren-the-gioi-post1681048.tpo