Merck launches the highly endowed “Future Insight Prize”.
17.07.2018 15:07
Merck launched a new research award on July 17, 2018. The company will award the “Future Insight Prize,” worth up to €1 million, annually for the next 35 years. The prize honors scientists who make extraordinary contributions to enable innovations in the categories of health, nutrition and energy that are important for the future of humanity.
“As we discuss the future of science and technology at the 'Curious2018 - Future Insight' conference, it is the right setting to announce the 'Future Insight Prize'. With this award, we want to advance groundbreaking science and the innovative development of key products or technologies to realize meaningful visions for the benefit of humanity,” said Stefan Oschmann, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Merck, when announcing the award at the conference. The event, which is currently taking place in Darmstadt, is being held for the first time and is supported by Merck as the main sponsor. It brings together internationally renowned scientists from all over the world, including five Nobel Prize winners.
The new research prize will be awarded for the first time at the “Curious2019” conference next year. The award ceremony will then take place in the “Health” category. The focus is on the development of a pandemic protection device - a visionary dream product that enables faster protection against emerging pathogens. This so-called “Pandemic Protector” should be able to analyze emerging pathogens in the shortest possible time, produce an active ingredient to treat or prevent diseases and thus protect humanity from the outbreak of a new, global epidemic.
A scouting team will monitor scientific activities worldwide to select potential candidates for the award. Experts in the relevant fields could also suggest their own candidates. The selected scientists would then be asked to submit their research contribution to a jury made up of renowned scientists and high-ranking executives – both from Merck and externally. The award is given to a laureate to promote their future research in the field.
The Future Insight Prize in the following years will be awarded for the following three themes:
- 2020: Multi-Drug Resistance Breaker – Solving the problem of antibacterial resistance to numerous antibiotics (health category)
- 2021: Food Generator – Technology that contributes to feeding the growing world population (food category)
- 2022: CO2-to fuel converter – Fuel production through photocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (energy category)
All future research projects that receive this prize should contribute to creating the scientific and technological foundations for the later realization of so-called “dream products”. In the first year this will be the “Pandemic Protector”. The desired products are visionary products, the price of which will encourage their realization. The same principle applies to the dream products “Multi-Drug Resistance Breaker”, “Food Generator” and “CO2-to-Fuel Converter”. None of the award-winning projects are connected to one of Merck's three divisions. Further information is available at futureinsightprize.merckgroup.com available.