Rewarding innovation

By Ni Dandan Source:Global Times Published: 2015-6-9 18:33:01

When mentioning the names Shinya Yamanaka and Shuji Nakamura, some might recognize them as Nobel laureates. Yamanaka, a Japanese physician, won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research into adult skin cells, while Japanese-American physicist Nakamura received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2014 for inventing environmentally friendly blue light-emitting diodes.

However, what most don't know is that these two scientists were also the recipients of another award prior to receiving their glorious Nobel crowns. The Millennium Technology Prize is Finland's tribute to innovations which advance the quality of humanity and is regarded as a forerunner to the breakthroughs recognized by the Nobel Prize.

"With this prize, we see to the use of technologies in more human directions," Maria Halava Napoles, Deputy Consul General of Finland in Shanghai, said at a recent Millennium Technology Prize event in Shanghai where discussions focusing on urbanization, climate change and clean technologies were held.

"Finland is a problem-solving country, practicality is very important to us," she said.

Last call for nominations

According to Technology Academy Finland, the independent foundation in Finland that awards the biennial Millennium Technology Prize, the prize aims to promote cutting-edge technological research and development that contributes to sustainable growth.

Since the first prize was awarded in 2004, seven scientists from across the world and from various technological backgrounds, such as information and communication, medicine and energy, have been recipients.

But Niina Suhonen, head of communications and marketing for Technology Academy Finland, considers it a pity that thus far the academy has never received one single nomination from China.

"I don't believe China doesn't have a science sector that wouldn't produce nominations. We feel there's great potential to receive high-caliber candidates here, so this year we hope to make the Chinese scientific community more aware of the prize," she said, noting that Shanghai is China's fastest-growing region and home to many top-tier universities such as Tongji, Fudan and Jiao Tong.

Suhonen revealed to the Global Times that as of Friday, less than two months before nominations are closed, no nominations from China have been received.

Strict guidelines

As the prize is awarded to groundbreaking technological innovations that enhance the quality of people's lives in a sustainable manner, Suhonen said that there are specific guidelines that people should pay special attention to: The technological innovations must have a solid scientific basis; the innovations should have already been applied in practice and are currently delivering extensive changes; the innovations should assist in stimulating further advanced research and development in science and technology.

"Although it's a prize looking into the future, it has to have practical applications. So, unfortunately, innovations in the research stage do not qualify for a nomination," Suhonen said.

Nominations for the prize, which opened in March and will close at the end of July, can be made by academies, universities, research institutes, companies, and industrial organizations from all over the world. Self-nominations and military technologies are excluded.

The prize can be awarded to a single individual or to a team or a number of individuals who have made essentially equal contributions to the success of an innovation.

Technology Academy Finland emphasizes that as the 1 million euros ($1.12 million) prize, which is awarded every two years, is designed to encourage further cutting-edge research and development, it is not intended as a reward for lifetime achievement.

Sustainable urban growth

Alongside the call for awareness of the prize, topics concerning urbanization, climate changes and clean technologies were also discussed at the event.

Dr Walter Dabberdt, scientific advisor for a Finnish company which develops products and services for environmental and industrial measurement, said at the discussions that while people today acknowledge the impact that the atmosphere has on a city, they should not neglect the fact that the city itself directly affects the atmosphere.

"It's a two-way dynamic. The principle way urbanization affects the atmosphere is through the change of the land surface from grassland, trees and forests to steel, concrete surfaces. Their thermal characteristics are very different from those of the natural landscape."

He added that cities have a higher demand for air conditioning and other electric-powered appliances, which exports more heat to the atmosphere. "That's why cities are normally hotter than their surrounding rural areas. They produce more emissions, and that's a vicious cycle."

According to Dr Dabberdt, clean technologies allow people to develop responsible control strategies to reduce emissions in a logical way. These technologies are of special significance to make cities sustainable enough to host an ever-growing number of residents.

"At present, globally there are almost 4 billion people who live in cities. The startling statistic is that by 2050 that number will grow to 6.5 billion. We have to do a better job to protect our atmosphere to accommodate these people," he warned.

Professor Fu Congbin, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said at the discussions that over the past several years the Yangtze River Delta region, which includes Shanghai, has recorded the fastest urbanization pace in the entire world. The cluster of these densely populated cities can multiply climate effects, such as reducing surface wind speed.

"That has aggravated the pollution in our cities. We must implement forceful measures, like significantly increasing the proportion of the use of clean energies to optimize the urban energy consumption structure," he said.

Maria Halava Napoles, Deputy Consul General of Finland in Shanghai



 

An event by the Technology Academy Finland

Photos: Ni Dandan/GT and courtesy of taf.fi



 
 

 



 

Posted in: Metro Shanghai

blog comments powered by Disqus