THE NEW SEASON OF THE VYZOV PRIZE FOR FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES BEGINS

On March 3, the call for applications for the VYZOV National Prize for Future Technologies was launched during the press conference held in the press center of the 2024 World Youth Festival. The Prize's mission is to encourage new generations to pursue science and technology in Russia.

In 2024, the Prize goes global with the establishment of the new Discovery category that welcomes scientists from all over the world, both foreign citizens and Russians who live and work abroad. The emergence of the new international category demonstrates that Russia is open to a dialogue in the sphere of scientific and technological cooperation, and serves as a proof that science knows no borders. The traditional categories remain in place, including Future for scientific achievement that has changed the development of future technologies (awarded to scientists under 35 years of age); Scientist of the Year for cumulative personal contribution that has transformed the landscape of science and technologies; Engineering Solution for an invention that helped advance a certain technology; and Breakthrough for scientific research that paved the way for the creation of new technologies.

"Our Prize is open to the entire world, and any scientist can apply for it, regardless of their citizenship or country of residence. Science needs tools for objective assessment of the level of scientific efforts, and the scientific committee of the VYZOV Prize guarantees impartiality of such assessment," said Artem Oganov, Chairman of the VYZOV Prize Scientific Committee.

Aleksey Fedorov, Deputy Chairman of the VYZOV Prize Scientific Committee, noted the increasing interest in the Prize and said that he expects a significant uptick in the number of applications this year: "Last year, we received 218 applications. We expect a significant increase in the number of applications in 2024. We are already witnessing the growing interest among scientists and engineers in our Prize."

Pavlos Lagoudakis, Laureate of the 2023 VYZOV Prize, explained how the Prize impacted his scientific career and brought him new opportunities for professional growth and development: "The VYZOV Prize has given me unprecedented publicity, interest from the media and the scientific community. This helped not only to draw attention to what I do, but also to share with a large number of people a very important idea that we need international dialogue in the scientific field because science has no borders."

The prize fund of the 2024 VYZOV National Prize for Future Technologies is 50 million rubles in total, 10 million rubles in each of the five categories.

Dmitry Zauers, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Gazprombank, emphasized the reason why it is important for businesses to support fundamental scientific discoveries: "The VYZOV Prize is an example of a completely new relationship between big science and big business. Such interaction is often based on quick result and quick benefit. We, however, see our mission in supporting fundamental science, in finding right now the future technologies that will become part of our daily lives in the next one or two decades. In December, we managed to start a dialogue by bringing together representatives of business and scientific communities in one place for the awards ceremony. This year, we are raising the bar and reaching a new level by going global. We understand that international cooperation in the field of science and business has always been the foundation for great achievements for all mankind. We hope that VYZOV will manage to become the bridge for a thorough dialogue with scientists and businessmen from different countries: together we will be able to achieve technological breakthroughs."

Ekaterina Solntseva, Director for Digitalization in ROSATOM, believes that VYZOV has valuable potential for popularizing scientific research and contribution of scientists in creating future technologies. "The current scientific agenda is largely determined by breakthrough achievements at the intersection of scientific disciplines. They will lay the foundation of the technological landscape for the 2030-2040s. Our task is to inform the public about the advances of scientists in the most important interdisciplinary areas. The VYZOV Prize aims to show the society a new generation of scientists who are the heroes dedicated to their work," she said.

The VYZOV National Prize for Future Technologies is timed to coincide with the Decade of Science and Technology in Russia and is designed to acknowledge breakthrough ideas and inventions that are changing the landscape of modern science and the lives of all people. The Prize sponsor is the VYZOV Foundation for the Development of Scientific and Cultural Relations together with Gazprombank with support of the Government of Moscow. Rosatom State Atomiс Energy Corporation is the general partner of the Prize.