Record Number of Nominations for the 2016 Millennium Technology Prize

As regards different fields of technology, the largest number of nominations were in material and process technologies. Health technology and biomedicine were also well represented. The nomination period was from 16 March to 31 July 2015, during which time research institutes, universities and companies from all over the world could nominate candidates for the prize.

TAF President and CEO Juha Ylä-Jääski is pleased with the results of this nomination round. “The Millennium Technology Prize enjoys great prestige in the international scientific community. We made particularly extensive use of contact networks in this round, focusing on key players in the nomination and meeting personally with university and research institution leaders in Finland and abroad. We also organised presentations of the prize in Los Angeles, CERN and Shanghai. In all this, we received invaluable help from the TAF Board as well as our partners, Aalto University in particular,” says Ylä-Jääski.

The nominations will be screened and evaluated thoroughly during the coming autumn and winter by the International Selection Committee. Its Chair, Professor Jarl-Thure Eriksson, waits eagerly for the process.

“It is great to have such a large number of candidates to assess, most of them entirely new names. Each round of evaluation is different, and no previous candidates remain on the list, unless someone nominates them again. From the very start, evaluation has focused on the innovation’s impacts on social development and the quality of life. This time around we are looking at sustainable growth in particular,” says Eriksson.

The Prize Winner will be selected by the Board of Technology Academy Finland. According to the new Chair, Professor Marja Makarow, the Millennium Technology Prize with is highly successful rounds of nomination showcases Finland as a country of high technology and demonstrates the key role of frontier research as a foundation for disruptive, commercially viable technologies.

The winner of the Millennium Technology Prize will be announced in a Prize ceremony on 24 May 2016.

Enquiries:

Juha Ylä-Jääski, President and CEO, tel. +358 (0)40 903 0606

Niina Suhonen, Head of Communications and Marketing, tel. +358 (0)40 8439 438

www.millenniumprize.fi

www.taf.fi

Partners of the Millennium Technology Prize:

Aalto University, FIM, Neste, Nokia, Kone, Outotec, SEB, Vaisala