HANOI, VIETNAM - 24 March 2022 - As part of the sequence of activities for the second VinFuture Prize season, VinFuture Foundation has officially launched a series of six webinars in six different time zones around the world. This series of events aims to provide information directly to scientists across the globe and attract the most outstanding nominations to promote post-COVID-19 reconstruction and sustainable development.

The webinar series will take place via Zoom from March 23 to April 19, 2022 and will be tailored for distinct geographic regions and time zones, including: US East and West Coasts, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The webinars will be led by members of the VinFuture Prize Council and Pre-screening Committee and will feature the prize laureates from the first season.

The second VinFuture Prize season, themed "Reshaping and Reviving", is focused on inventions and scientific initiatives accelerating the world's reconstruction and sustainable development following the COVID-19 pandemic. Since its official launch on February 16, 2022, the second season has received immense support from the global scientific community, with more than 1,000 organizations and individuals from 81 countries participating as nominators for the prize. To date, the scientific community in Asia has contributed the highest number of nominators with 34% of the total share, followed closely by the Americas with 33%, Europe with 22%, Australia with 6%, and Africa with 5%.

The webinar series aims to provide the latest information directly to scientists worldwide and promote diversity and breadth in all potential areas. Through this series, VinFuture will address inquiries and concerns about the nomination process as well as share practical and inspirational perspectives from members of the Pre-screening Committee, the Prize Council, and especially the first season's laureates.

VinFuture Prize is an annual international award for breakthrough scientific and technological inventions that have created, or have the potential to create, meaningful changes in people's lives. Despite being a new award, with the mission of serving humanity and a selection process with high integrity and transparency, VinFuture has already built a strong reputation in the global scientific community.

In the first season, VinFuture received nearly 1,200 nomination submissions from six continents around the world just four months after officially launching the nomination portal. VinFuture's nominators include institutes of higher education such as Harvard University, Cambridge University, Oxford University, and University of Tokyo, and prestigious organizations such as the National Institutes of Health of the United States, The Max Planck Society of Germany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and more.

The laureates of the first VinFuture Prize season are truly outstanding scientists that have been honored worldwide for their scientific achievements for humanity. The Grand Prize, with a value of US$3 million, was awarded to three prominent scientists: Dr. Katalin Karikó, Prof. Drew Weissman (USA) and Prof. Pieter Cullis (Canada) for the development of mRNA technology, paving the way for the production of effective vaccines to help prevent COVID-19 outbreaks, as well as potential vaccines for HIV, cancer, autoimmune and genetic diseases, helping to protect the future health of millions of people in the world.