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PRESS NOTE
PRESS OFFICE
THE WORLD’S BIGGEST AWARDS AFTER THE NOBEL PRIZES
BBVA Chairman Francisco González
announces the BBVA Frontiers of
Knowledge Awards

Francisco González: “The awards we are launching today will stand as a
new international benchmark, as well as marking a qualitative leap in
BBVA’s support for knowledge and innovation”

The awards are funded with a total of 3.2 million euros, to be given
annually in eight prize categories

The BBVA Foundation Awards are intended to recognize and encourage
research and creativity in basic sciences, biomedicine, the environment,
information technology and economics, alongside creative achievement in
the arts

Awards will also go to outstanding research work and/or projects in the
areas of development cooperation and climate change
December 4, 2007- Francisco González, chairman of BBVA, today presented
the “BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards”. The prize money in
these new BBVA Foundation Awards (an annual 3.2 million euros) and the
breadth of scientific and artistic disciplines addressed place them among the
world’s major awards, second only to the Nobel Prize.
In his presentation speech, Francisco González affirmed that “these awards will
honor excellence in research and artistic creation, with an accent on forwardlooking projects that address the major challenges confronting the global society
of the 21st century”.
“We also wish to activate society’s latent regard for the work of the scientific
community”, the BBVA Chairman continued, “and believe the ‘BBVA Foundation
Frontiers of Knowledge Awards’ are an effective means to do so”.
“In sum”, he concluded, “the awards we are launching here will stand as a new
international benchmark, as well as marking a qualitative leap in BBVA’s support
for knowledge and innovation”.
The BBVA Chairman also remarked in this speech that “our engagement with
society, our vision of corporate social responsibility have led us to devote
growing resources – both human and financial – to the generation and spread of
knowledge; this philosophy of the BBVA Group and its foundations, both in Spain
and Latin America, is what lies behind initiatives like these Awards, which will
stand as a benchmark for scientists and creative practitioners, while providing
recognition and encouragement to the many people and teams all round the
world who are working, like BBVA, to achieve a better future for humanity”.
The BBVA Foundation chairman was joined at the event by Carlos Martínez,
president of Spain’s principal public research organization, the Consejo Superior
de Investigaciones Científicas, which will collaborate in the appointment of
technical evaluation committees and propose the chairs of the prize juries.
THE AWARDS
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards seek to recognize and
encourage research and artistic creation, prizing contributions of lasting impact
for their originality, theoretical and conceptual implications and, where
appropriate, their translation to innovative practices of a salient nature.
The name of the scheme is intended to encapsulate both research work that
successfully enlarges the scope of our current knowledge, continually pushing
forward the frontiers of the known world, and the meeting of different
disciplinary areas. Oriented to the branches of knowledge that most characterize
the 21st century, the BBVA Foundation Awards wish to recognize the emergence
of new knowledge areas, along with the interdisciplinary nature of scientific
research and the fact that many seminal contributions to our current stock of
knowledge are the result of collaborative working between large and frequently
multinational research teams.
AWARD CATEGORIES
These awards will honor disciplinary or interdisciplinary advances in a series of
basic, natural, social and technological sciences, along with creative activity of
excellence in the arts. Categories are also reserved for two core concerns of early
21st century society, namely climate change and development cooperation, with
awards going alternatively to outstanding research work or projects that mark a
significant advance in addressing these global challenges.
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards, to be given annually, take
in the following categories:
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Basic Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics)
Biomedicine
Ecology and Conservation Biology
Information and Communication Technology
Economics, Finance and Business Management
Arts (Music, Painting, Sculpture, Architecture)
Climate Change
Development Cooperation
PRIZE MONEY
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards come with a monetary
award of 400,000 euros in each prize category. This is higher than both the
global and individual amounts per category of such prestigious international
schemes as the Kyoto, Wolf, Kavli or Japan prizes.
Award
Monetary amount
Nobel Prize
6 million euros
BBVA Foundation Awards
Frequ
ency
Categories
Annual
Physics. Chemistry. Physiology or Medicine. Literature.
Economics. Peace
3.2 million euros
(400,000 per
category)
Annual
Basic Sciences. Biomedicine. Ecology and
Conservation Biology. Information and
Communication Technology. Economics, Finance
and Business Management. Arts. Climate
Change. Development Cooperation
Kavli Prize (Norwegian
Academy of Sciences and
Letters, Norwegian Ministry of
Education and Kavli
Foundation)
2.1 million euros
(700,000 per category)
Biennial
Astrophysics. Neurosciences. Nanosciences.
Kyoto Prize (Inamori
Foundation, Japan)
900,000 euros
Annual
Technology. Basic Sciences. Arts and Philosophy.
Japan Prize (Science and
Technology Foundation, Japan)
600,000 euros
Annual
Technology. Science.
Wolf Prize (Wolf Foundation,
Israel)
407,280 euros
Annual
Agriculture. Chemistry. Physics. Mathematics.
Medicine. Arts.
(1 million per category)
(300,000 per category)
(300,000 per category)
(67,880 per category)
PURPOSE OF THE AWARDS
The scientific community receives little in the way of explicit or symbolic
recognition, despite the fact that scientists number among the professional
groups most highly valued by society. The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of
Knowledge Awards aim to activate this latent regard on the part of society for
scientists and their work.
The Foundation’s desire to publicly recognize the efforts of researchers,
organizations and professionals working to improve the societies where they
operate has found previous expression in the BBVA Foundation Awards for
Biodiversity Conservation, which will be incorporated within the Frontiers of
Knowledge scheme following the conclusion of their third edition, the Giner de los
Ríos Awards for the Improvement of Educational Quality – organized jointly with
the Spanish Ministry for Education and Science since 1983 – and the Economics
for Management Lecture Series award of the BBVA Foundation and IESE.
In this respect, the BBVA Foundation expresses the engagement of BBVA with
the cause of social responsibility in the societies where it does business, placing
knowledge and innovation at the service of a better quality of life for citizens.
CANDIDATES AND NOMINATIONS
Candidates for the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards may be one
or more natural persons, without limit of number, of any nationality, i.e.,
recognition can go to achievements resulting from cooperation between different
teams. In the categories of Climate Change and Development Cooperation,
entries are also open to public or private not-for-profit organizations.
Nominations are invited from any of the following institutions: scientific or artistic
societies and organizations; national or regional academies of the sciences or the
arts; public or private R&D centers; university departments and university or
research institutes; conservatories and schools of music; museums of the arts
and sciences; and public agencies and other organizations substantially engaged
in analysis and/or activities relating to climate change and development
cooperation.
Entries can be submitted from January 2, 2008 to June 30, 2008 using the form
provided on the dedicated website: www.fbbva.es/awards.
Candidate selection will be guided by the principles of objectivity and
independence and will rely on the best standards and metrics of excellence in
each prize area. The Foundation will be partnered in the selection process by the
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Spain’s premier
multidisciplinary research organization. As well as collaborating with the
appointment of evaluation committees, the CSIC will propose the chair of each
prize jury, to be made up eminent international specialists.
For more information, contact the BBVA Foundation Press Office
(+34 91 537 6615/ 94 487 4627)