The VinFuture Prize Council announced on May 18 that following the close of nominations for the 2026 season, the global sci-tech award has received 1,819 nominations from around the world, alongside a network of more than 17,000 nominating partners from 117 countries and territories.
This year’s nominations span a wide range of essential fields, including medicine and health care (38.4%), environment and earth sciences (17%), energy, transportation and construction (15%), food and agriculture (10.6%), and other areas of science and technology (19%).
With 17,154 nominating partners from 117 countries and territories across all five continents, the scale of the prize has grown by around 16% compared with the 2025 season and more than 14-fold compared with its inaugural year in 2021. The number of countries and territories represented by nominating partners has also nearly doubled over the past six years.
Notably, 1,415 of VinFuture 2026’s nominating partners belong to the world’s top 2% most-cited researchers.
Participating on a voluntary basis, these partners play a vital role in identifying and nominating outstanding scientific achievements capable of generating positive change for billions of people worldwide. They also contribute to expanding VinFuture’s influence within the international scientific community while fostering cross-border academic collaboration.
Dr Le Thai Ha, Managing Director of the VinFuture Foundation, said the continued growth in nominations and the expanding network of more than 17,000 partners demonstrate that an increasing number of prestigious scientists and organisations worldwide are choosing to accompany VinFuture in its mission to discover and honour scientific and technological innovations with meaningful benefits for humanity.
Following the nomination stage, the preliminary round council will begin evaluating and selecting the most outstanding works for the final round, which is expected to continue until early September.
All submissions will undergo a rigorous multi-layered assessment process in accordance with strict international standards to ensure the highest levels of scientific integrity, fairness and transparency. Core evaluation criteria include scientific and technological advancement, positive impact on human life, as well as the scale and sustainability of the project.
Many VinFuture laureates have gone on to be honoured at top-tier international science awards such as the Nobel Prize, the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, and the Breakthrough Prize, demonstrating VinFuture's ability to early identify works of fundamental value for the future of humanity.
The award is the core activity of the VinFuture Foundation, a non-profit organisation co-founded by Vietnam’s billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong and his spouse Pham Thu Huong./.
