On March 3, a press conference was held at the Press Center of the World Youth Festival 2024, where they announced the start of accepting applications for the National Prize in the Field of Future Technologies "CHALLENGE". The mission of the Award is to create a clear motivation and desire for representatives of the new generation to connect their lives with science and technology in our country.
"Our goal is to make scientific discoveries and scientists symbols of success in modern Russia. The scientific awards are designed to reward the best scientists for their most daring ideas that can radically change the life of modern society and business. The uniqueness of our award lies in the fact that we not only reward our laureates, but also promote them as opinion leaders and public figures. We consider it important that they receive not only professional recognition, but also media and recognizable personalities," said Leonid Shlyakhover, President of the Challenge Foundation for the Development of Scientific and Cultural Relations.
Photo: Photo Bank of the Challenge Foundation
In 2024, the Award will reach an international level. It was decided to establish the "Discovery" nomination. Scientists from any country in the world can apply for this nomination, both foreign citizens and Russians who live and work outside of Russia. The appearance of the international Award nomination demonstrates Russia's openness to dialogue in the field of scientific and technological cooperation, and also confirms that there are no borders for science. The previous four nominations will remain: "Perspective" – for a scientific achievement that influenced the dynamics of the development of future technologies (awarded to scientists under 35 years of age); "Scientist of the Year" – for personal contribution to the creation of future technologies and changing the landscape of science; "Engineering solution" – for an invention that significantly advanced a particular technologyiu; "Breakthrough" – for scientific research that opened the way to the creation of future technologies.
"Our award is absolutely open to the whole world – any scientist can apply for it, regardless of citizenship and country of residence. It is very important for science to have tools for an objective assessment of the level of scientific work. And the Scientific Committee of the Challenge Prize guarantees the impartiality of such an assessment," said Artyom Oganov, Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the CHALLENGE Prize.
Photo: Photo Bank of the Challenge Foundation
Alexey Fedorov, Deputy Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Award, noted the growing interest in the Award and suggested that the number of applications would increase significantly this year: "Last year we received 218 applications. We expect that there will be significantly more of them in 2024. We can already see the growing interest of scientists and engineers in our award."
Pavlos Lagoudakis, the winner of the 2023 CHALLENGE Award, spoke about how the Award influenced his scientific career and opened up opportunities for professional growth and development.: "The CHALLENGE Award has given me unprecedented publicity, interest from the media and the scientific community. It helped not only to draw attention to what I do, but also to convey to a large number of people a very important idea for me – that an international dialogue is needed in the scientific field, because there are no borders for science."
The prize fund of the National Prize in the field of future technologies "CHALLENGE" in 2024 will amount to 50 million rubles – 10 million rubles in each of the five nominations.
Dmitry Sauers, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Gazprombank, commented on why it is important for businesses to support fundamental scientific discoveries: "The CHALLENGE Award is an example of a completely new relationship between big science and big business. Such interaction is often based on quick results and quick benefits. Our mission is to support fundamental science, to find technologies of the future today that will become our daily routine in the next 10-20 years. In December, we managed to start a dialogue – we gathered representatives of the business and scientific community in one hall for the ceremony. This year we are raising the bar and reaching a new level – international. We understand that international cooperation in the field of science and business has always been the foundation of great achievements for all mankind. We hope that the CHALLENGE will be able to become a bridge for a high-quality dialogue with scientists and business representatives from different countries: together we will be able to achieve technological breakthroughs."
Ekaterina Solntseva, Director of Digitalization at Rosatom State Corporation, considers the potential of the CHALLENGE Award to promote scientific research and the contribution of scientists to the creation of future technologies to be valuable. "The modern scientific agenda is largely determined by breakthrough achievements at the intersection of sciences. They will become the basis of the technological structure on the horizon of the thirties and forties. Our task is to tell the public about the successes of scientists in the most important interdisciplinary areas. The CHALLENGE aims to show the society a new generation of heroic scientists dedicated to their work," Ekaterina Solntseva said.
The National Prize in the field of future technologies "Challenge" is timed to coincide with the Decade of Science and Technology announced in 2022 and is designed to celebrate breakthrough ideas and inventions that are changing the landscape of modern science and every person's life. The founder of the Award is the Challenge Foundation for the Development of Scientific and Cultural Relations in cooperation with Gazprombank with the support of the Moscow Government. Rosatom State Corporation is the general partner of the Award.
02.03.2024 
