The Millennium Technology Prize ( fi, Millennium-teknologiapalkinto) 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 ( fi, Suomen tasavallan presidentti; sv, Republiken Finlands president) is the head of state of Finland. Under the Constitution of Finland, executive power is vested in the Finnish Government and the p ...

. The Millennium Technology Prize is Finland's tribute to innovations for a better life. The aims of the prize are to promote technological research and Finland as a high-tech Nordic welfare state. 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 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 ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfre ...

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 (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

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 ( fi, Suomen tasavallan presidentti; sv, Republiken Finlands president) is the head of state of Finland. Under the Constitution of Finland, executive power is vested in the Finnish Government and the p ...

. 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 ( fi, Aalto-yliopisto; sv, Aalto-universitetet) is a 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 H ...

and Chairman of ISC *Hans-Joachim Freund, Director at the

Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society The Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society (FHI) is a science research institute located at the heart of the academic district of Dahlem, in Berlin, Germany. The original Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electroch ...

(Germany) *Sir Peter Knight, Retire Deputy Rector (Research) at

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cul ...

London *Jonathan Knowles, chairman of the board at Immunocore Ltd. *Sirpa Jalkanen, Professor of Immunology at University of Turku *Tero Ojanperä. Chairman of Silo.AI company *Cecilia Tortajada, Senior research at School of Public Policy, NUS Past committee members include: *

Jarl-Thure Eriksson Jarl-Thure Eriksson (born 5 November 1944 in Hammarland in Åland, Finland) is Doctor of Science in Technology, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Rector of Tampere University of Technology (TUT) in Finland between the years 1997–2008. Du ...

, Chancellor of Åbo Akademi University and former Rector of Tampere University of Technology (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. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 series ...

(United States) *

Riitta Hari Riitta Kyllikki Hari (born 16 January 1948) is a Finnish neuroscientist, physician and professor at Aalto University. She has led the Brain Research Unit at the Low Temperature Laboratory since 1982. Hari was appointed as Academician of Science o ...

, 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 Konrad Osterwalder (born June 3, 1942) is a Swiss mathematician and physicist, former Undersecretary-General of the United Nations, former Rector of the United Nations University (UNU), and Rector Emeritus of the Swiss Federal Institute of Techno ...

, Former Rector of the

United Nations University The (UNU) is the think tank and academic arm of the United Nations. Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, with diplomatic status as a UN institution, its mission is to help resolve global issues related to human development and welfare th ...

and Under-Secretary-General of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

(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 awards Invention awards Science and technology awards Science and technology in Finland

The Prize

International Selection Committee (ISC)

Laureates

See also

References

External links