The 2027 Millennium Technology Prize gathered nominations from all around the world

Nominees by Current Country.

The Finnish Millennium Technology Prize has further strengthened its position as the most prestigious innovation technology award in the world. The nomination period for the next prize of one million euros ended in February and 79 innovations were nominated for the 2027 Millennium Technology Prize (69 in the previous prize round).

The number of nominations was almost 25% higher than the average of all previous nomination rounds. The proportion of nominated female candidates (19%) is the second highest in history.  

The nominated innovations spread more evenly around the world than before, increasingly also in the global south. Africa has established its position as part of the nominations (9% in this round), and this round we also have nominations from South America. 

“The recently concluded Call fo Nominations was a success. We increased the number of nominations and expanded the geographical distribution. The share of nominated innovations developed by women increased from last year and remained at the clearly higher level reached a few years ago thanks to persistent communications efforts. Until 2020, women accounted for around ten percent of nominees at most. Results began to appear once we started actively encouraging women nominations, says Maija Liiri, CEO of Technology Academy Finland, the foundation awarding the Millennium Technology Prize. 

“The 1/4 increase for the average number of nominations is a good achievement, as there is a limited number of top-level innovations in the world that improve people’s quality of life and the planet’s living conditions – and are thus eligible for the Millennium Technology Prize. We are very happy that the awareness of the prize has risen sharply in recent years as we need all the great minds from all over the world to solve the biggest challenges of humanity and the planet,” Maija Liiri states. 

The prize will be awarded in Finland in June 2027 

Next, the Pre-selection Committee of the Millennium Technology Prize will review the nominations and provide additional information to the International Selection Committee, which will make a proposal for the winner. The winner will be selected by the Board of Technology Academy Finland and awarded in Finland in June 2027, in connection with the international conference, Millennium Technology Prize Forum. Read more about the evaluation process of the nominations. 

Previous winners of the Millennium Technology Prize include, for example, Bantval Jayant Baliga (2024) from USA, who radically reduced the global energy consumption of electrical devices; Martin Green (2022) from Australia, who developed the PERC cell used in nearly all solar panels; and Shinya Yamanaka (2012) from Japan, who enabled ethical stem cell research. Read more about previous winners. 

The Millennium Technology Prize has been awarded since 2004, and is under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Finland.