Date/Time
Date(s) - 16/04/2025
8:00 am - 4:00 pm

The VinFuture Prizes are awarded annually by the VinFuture Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation in Vietnam, to proven breakthrough scientific research and technological innovations which have high potential to create meaningful change in people’s lives.

Reinforcing the idea of a holistic interdisciplinary approach for eligible areas within science and technology, the vision of the VinFuture Prize program is to catalyze meaningful change in people’s everyday lives through tangible and highly scalable improvements in areas such as productivity, prosperity, connectivity, health, safety, environment, sustainability, and people’s overall happiness regardless of their socioeconomic status.

Prize Categories & Nominee Eligibility Requirements

• The Grand Prize (valued at $3 million USD) will be awarded to proven breakthrough research and technological innovations which positively improve the quality of human life and create a more equitable and sustainable world for future generations.

  The Grand Prize is open to all, regardless of the candidate’s nationality, age, gender, social status, or economic background.

• Three Special Prizes (valued at $500,000 USD each), with a focus on promoting diversity, equity, and new fields of study will be awarded for the following categories:

  • VinFuture Special Prize for Female Innovators: Awarded to outstanding women researcher(s) or innovator(s), with no restriction on nationality, age, social status, or economic background of the nominees.

  • VinFuture Special Prize for Innovators with Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields: Awarded for research or innovations that are in an emerging field that has the potential to create positive changes for humanity.

    “Emerging field” is any field that is non-traditional and its researchers may come from different disciplines (in other words, when multiple disciplines are combined to merge and form something new).

    Some examples of emerging fields are:

    • Quantum Computing or Neuromorphic Computing

    • Bioelectronics

    • Internet of Things (IoT)

    • Robotics

    • Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    • Machine Learning

    • Biometrics

    • Quantum Biology

    • Bioengineering

  • VinFuture Special Prize for Innovators from Developing Countries: Awarded to exceptional researcher(s) or innovator(s) currently working in an institute located in a developing country. In the case of a nomination involving a team, all team members should be working in developing countries. The center of gravity of their work should be in developing countries. A list of developing countries by the United Nations is available here.

Eligible Fields for Nomination

The VinFuture Prizes will recognize breakthroughs across all fields of science, technology and engineering that have already delivered impact or show the potential to deliver impact for real-world problems that align with at least one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Nominator Eligibility Requirements

The VinFuture Prize will partner with prestigious academic institutions and organizations around the globe to identify the most outstanding nominations that create meaningful change in the everyday lives of millions of people. Additionally:

• No self-nominations are accepted.

• Only nominations submitted in English are accepted.

• Both organizational/institutional nominators and individual nominators can submit their nominations for the VinFuture Prizes via the Online Nomination Form.

• VinFuture Prize welcomes nominations from reputable organizations such as universities, research institutes/centers, academies of science and technology, scientific associations/networks, corporations and industries, innovation incubators, and from prominent individuals in the related areas.

Key Selection Criteria 

1. There should be clear evidence, or potential, for an end-product or service based on the solution, which has an everyday practical application;

2. Solutions should have already benefited millions of people in the past 10 years for the Grand Prize, or have the potential to benefit millions of people in the next 10 years for the Special Prizes;

3. Solutions should be aligned with one or more of the United Nations’ SDGs;

4. Solutions must be scientifically proven (i.e., there should be clear evidence of passing relevant scientific trials, and in the case of research, it must be empirically proven or widely reviewed);
5. Open to researchers or inventors who were involved in developing the underlying solutions, and not entrepreneurs or corporates who helped in commercialization/diffusion of the technology;
6. End-products of the research should benefit people globally, including those from developing and less developed countries, as well as lower-income and disadvantaged communities;
7. Open to individuals or teams of researchers/inventors;

8. Preferences are considered for nominees in the active stages of their careers;

9. The same individual/team can be nominated for one or more of the VinFuture Special Prizes, if eligible;

10. The nominated research/solution/invention can be underpinned in any discipline of science, engineering, or technology, including potentially multi-disciplinary approaches.

Nomination Process & Dossier Requirements

Nominations must be submitted through the VinFuture Prize online system before the deadline.

The online nomination form has seven (7) sections, as follows:

• Prize Category and Type of Nomination (i.e., individual or group/team)

• Nominee’s Information

• Nominator’s Information

• Information about the Invention of the Nominee(s) that is worthy of the Prize

• Nominator’s evaluation of the Nominee’s Invention

• Endorsement letters of the Nominee’s Invention (More substantive endorsement letters are encouraged)

• Supporting documentation and evidence

  • CV of nominee(s) (up to 10 files)

  • Endorsement letter(s) (up to 10 files)

  • Most important publication (up to 1 file)

  • Most important patent (up to 1 file)

  • Most effective product (up to 1 file)

  • Valid Intellectual Properties – i.e., patents, trademarks, industrial designs, and copyright (up to 1 file)

  • Awards/recognition of invention (up to 1 file)

  • Other documents (up to 10 files)

  NOTE: Supported file types include pdf, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, pptx, zip, rar, jpg, jpeg, and png, with the total number of files not exceeding 35 and each attachment’s size not exceeding10 MB.

Deadline

The deadline for 2025 nomination submissions is 4:00 PM, April 16th, 2025 (ET) / 2:00 PM (Vietnam Time GMT +7).

Only nominations submitted through the VinFuture Prize online system before the deadline will be considered for this year.

Nominations submitted after the deadline will be considered for next year.

Additional Resources

• VinFuture Prize FAQs

• VinFuture Prize Nomination Portal Guideline

• VinFuture Prize Laureates

The OVPR P&A team is happy to support nominators/nominees in the preparation and submission of award nomination dossiers. Please contact us at awardmgr@mcmaster.ca with any questions and/or requests for support pertaining to the VinFuture Prizes.