The Millennium Technology Prize () is one of the world's largest technology prizes. It is awarded once every two years by Technology Academy Finland, an independent foundation established by Finnish industries, academic institutions, and the state of Finland. The patron of the prize is the

President of Finland The president of the Republic of Finland (; ) is the head of state of Finland. The incumbent president is Alexander Stubb, since 1 March 2024. He was elected president for the first time in 2024 Finnish presidential election, 2024. The presi ...

. The Millennium Technology Prize is Finland's tribute to

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or service (economics), services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a n ...

s for a better life. The aims of the prize are to promote technological research and Finland as a high-tech Nordic

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the State (polity), state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal oppor ...

. The prize was inaugurated in 2004.

The Prize

The idea of the prize came originally from the Finnish academician Pekka Jauho, with American real estate investor and philanthropist Arthur J Collingsworth encouraging its establishment.Millennium, Finnfacts.com
(Archive.org) The Prize celebrates innovations that have a favorable and sustainable impact on

quality of life Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...

and well-being of people. The innovations also must have been applied in practice and stimulate further research and development. Compared to the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

the Millennium Technology Prize is a technology award, whereas the Nobel Prize is a science award. Furthermore, the Nobel Prize is awarded for basic research, but the Millennium Technology Prize may be given to a recently conceived innovation which is still being developed. The Millennium Technology Prize is not intended as a reward for lifetime achievement. The Millennium Technology Prize is awarded by Technology Academy Finland (formerly Millennium Prize Foundation and Finnish Technology Award Foundation), established in 2002 by eight Finnish organisations supporting technological development and innovation. The prize sum is 1 million

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

s (~US$1.3 million). The Millennium Technology Prize is awarded every second year and its patron is the

president of Finland The president of the Republic of Finland (; ) is the head of state of Finland. The incumbent president is Alexander Stubb, since 1 March 2024. He was elected president for the first time in 2024 Finnish presidential election, 2024. The presi ...

. Universities, research institutes, national scientific and engineering academies, high-tech companies, and other organizations around the world are eligible to nominate individuals or groups for the award. Nominations are accepted from any field except military technology. In accordance with the rules of the Technology Academy Finland, a proposal concerning the winner of the Millennium Technology Prize is made to the board of the foundation by the eight-member international selection committee, and the final decision on the prize winner is made by the board of the foundation.

International Selection Committee (ISC)

Current members of the selection committee include: * Päivi Törmä, Professor at

Aalto University Aalto University (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Espoo, Finland. It was established in 2010 as a merger of three major Finnish universities: the Helsinki University of Technology, the Helsinki School of Economic ...

and Chairman of ISC 2017-2024. *Nigel Brandon, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Imperial College London *Thierry E. Klein, President of Bell Labs Solutions Research at Nokia Bell Labs *Ilan Spillinger, Executive Vice President and Corporate CTO of

imec Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC; officially stylised as imec) is an international Research and development, research & development organization, active in the fields of nanoelectronics and Digital electronics, digital technologies ...

. * Sirpa Jalkanen, Professor of Immunology at University of Turku *Cecilia Tortajada, Professor in Practice in Environmental Innovation (Interdisciplinary Studies) in the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

Past committee members include: *Jonathan Knowles, Visiting Professor, FIMM, HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Finland *Tero Ojanperä, Chairman of Silo.AI company * Jarl-Thure Eriksson, Chancellor of

Åbo Akademi University Åbo Akademi University ( , ) is the only exclusively Swedish language multi-faculty university in Finland (or anywhere outside Sweden). It is located mainly in Turku (Åbo is the Swedish name of the city) but has also activities in Vaasa. Å ...

and former Rector of

Tampere University of Technology Tampere University of Technology (TUT) () was Finland's second-largest university in engineering sciences. The university was located in Hervanta, a suburb of Tampere, Finland, Tampere. It was merged with the University of Tampere to create the ...

(Finland) * Eva-Mari Aro, Professor in Molecular Plant Biology at University of Turku (Finland) *Jaakko Astola, Professor of Signal Processing at Tampere University of Technology (Finland) * Craig R. Barrett, Retired CEO/Chairman of the Board of

Intel Corporation Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer components such as central processing ...

(United States) * Riitta Hari, Director of both the multidisciplinary Brain Research Unit of the Low Temperature Laboratory at

and the national Centre of Excellence on Systems Neuroscience and Neuroimaging Research (Finland) * Konrad Osterwalder, Former Rector of the United Nations University and Under-Secretary-General of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

(Switzerland) *Ayao Tsuge, President of the Japan Federation of Engineering Society and President of Japan International Science and Technology Exchange Center (Japan)

Laureates

*The ceremony was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was held on 18 May 2021.

References

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External links

The Millennium Technology Prize
- Official site
The Millennium Technology Prize Youtube ChannelTechnology Academy Finland
- Official site International science and technology awards Invention awards Science and technology in Finland

The Prize

International Selection Committee (ISC)

Laureates

See also

References

External links