The Billionaire’s Record-Breaking Bonanza: A $4.2 Million Windfall

This is a remarkable recognition of the record-breaking number of official nominating partners in the 5th season (VinFuture 2025).

Recently, the VinFuture Global Science and Technology Award officially concluded its 5th season with 1,705 nominations from around the world. Notably, the number of official nominating partners for the VinFuture 2025 Award has skyrocketed to 14,772 partners, more than 12 times higher than the figure of 1,200 in the first season. This is an impressive record for an award founded by Vietnamese just five years ago.

The VinFuture 2025 season not only witnessed a significant surge in the number of nominations but also deeper engagement from the prestigious international scientific community. The number of nominating partners increased by more than 60% compared to 2024, mostly scientists from the Americas (31%), followed by Europe (28.6%), Asia (26.8%), Africa (7.1%), and Oceania (6.5%).

Nearly 50% (7,240) of the 14,772 nominating partners this year are experts from leading universities and research institutes worldwide, such as Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University (USA), Cambridge University, Oxford University (UK), Melbourne University (Australia), the University of Toronto (Canada), and the National University of Singapore (Singapore). Notably, 1,395 nominating partners (equivalent to 9.4%) are scientists among the top 2% of the most-cited researchers globally, according to Stanford University experts.

The nominations for this VinFuture season continue to span crucial areas of life and global sustainable development, including Medicine and Health Care (36.7%); Energy, Transportation, and Construction (17.8%); Environment and Earth (17.8%); and Agriculture and Food (11.3%). These fields are key to humanity’s scientific and technological advancements and have attracted significant attention from the international community.

The nominating partners play a crucial role in identifying and introducing worthy scientific works to VinFuture. These works positively impact humanity’s life and help spread information about the VinFuture Award to the international scientific community. The nominating partners work on a voluntary basis, driven by the noble mission and unique characteristics of the VinFuture Award.

A notable example of a VinFuture laureate nominated by a nominating partner occurred in 2024. Mr. Jensen Huang, CEO and co-founder of Nvidia, was honored with the VinFuture Grand Prize based on a nomination by Professor Monica Lam, a leading computer science expert at Stanford University (USA), for his contributions to the industry in promoting deep learning advancements.

Professor Geoffrey Hinton, co-laureate of the VinFuture Grand Prize 2024 and the Nobel Prize in Physics 2024, remarked: “I think the fact that Mr. Jensen Huang received the award clearly shows that VinFuture is more flexible and not limited by the scope of categories like the Nobel Prize.”

“As a younger award, VinFuture has the advantage of being more adaptable to innovation and the latest trends and can take a fresh approach. It’s truly commendable that VinFuture leverages this strength to honor deserving scientists. At the Nobel Prize, it would be challenging for the committees to award Mr. Jensen Huang because they don’t have a specific category for this field,” explained Professor Geoffrey Hinton.

Dr. Le Thai Ha, Executive Director of the VinFuture Prize, shared: “A five-year journey with the mission of ‘Science serving humanity’ has made VinFuture a convergence point of global intelligence and a shared aspiration to build a better future for the world.”

According to Dr. Le Thai Ha, the remarkable growth in the number of nominating partners and the increasing quality of the nominated works each year testify to the international scientific community’s growing trust in the Award. It also reflects the urgent need for breakthrough scientific and technological solutions to build a world where humans can develop harmoniously with a sustainable environment.

As planned, the VinFuture 2025 Preliminary Review Round will take place from late May to the end of August, carefully evaluating and selecting the most deserving works to advance to the final round of judging. The Preliminary Review Board, comprising ten members, will assess the nominations based on a rigorous review process and the highest international standards to ensure scientific integrity, fairness, and transparency. The core evaluation criteria include the level of scientific and technological advancement, positive impact on human life, project scale, and sustainability.

The total prize value of VinFuture is $4.5 million, equivalent to nearly VND 117 billion.

Many VinFuture Prize winners consecutively achieve award “doubles”

In reality, after five years of operation, the VinFuture Prize has quickly affirmed its stature and prestige internationally, as many Prize winners have been consecutively honored by prestigious global awards.

Typical examples include scientists such as Dr. Katalin Karikó, Professor Drew Weissman (VinFuture Grand Prize 2021, Nobel Prize in Medicine 2023), Dr. Demis Hassabis, Dr. John Jumper (VinFuture Special Prize 2022, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024), Professor Geoffrey Hinton (VinFuture Grand Prize 2024, Nobel Prize in Physics 2024), Professor Yoshua Bengio, Professor Yann LeCun, Professor Geoffrey Hinton, Mr. Jensen Huang, and Professor Fei-Fei Li (VinFuture Grand Prize 2024, Queen Elizabeth Prize 2025), Professor Daniel Joshua Drucker, Professor Joel Francis Habener, Professor Jens Juul Holst, and Associate Professor Svetlana Mojsov (VinFuture Special Prize 2023, Breakthrough Prize 2025).