Zhenan Bao, winner of VinFuture Special Prize, and Prof. Sir Richard Henry Friend, chairman of the VinFuture Prize Council. (Photo: VNA)

The 2022 season is looking for scientific inventions and innovations that can help revive the world and build up sustainable development after the pandemic.

The VinFuture Prize comprises a Grand Prize of 3 million USD and three additional Special Prizes of 500,000 USD each.

For the Grand Prize, solutions should have already benefited millions of people in the past 10 years. For a Special Prize, they should have the potential to benefit millions of people in the next 10 years. End-products of research should benefit people globally, including people from developing and less developed countries, as well as low-income and disadvantaged communities. Solutions should be aligned with one or more of the United Nation's SDGs.

The VinFuture Prize, which inspired 600 nominations across 60 countries in its inaugural year, seeks the best breakthroughs in science and technology.

Nearly 100 nominations came from the world’s top 2% most-cited scientists, many of whom have won distinguished awards like the Nobel Prize, the Breakthrough Prize, and the Tang Prize.

The 2021 Grand Prize, worth 3 million USD, was awarded to three scientists Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman of the US and Pieter Cullis of Canada for their work on mRNA technology, which paved the way for effective COVID-19 vaccines.