Millennium Technology Prize for developers of rapid DNA sequencing
The biennial Finnish Millennium Technology Prize is awarded to a technological innovation that improves quality of life and promotes sustainable development. This year, the prize was awarded to Shankar Balasubramania and David Klenerman in recognition of their pioneering DNA sequencing techniques. The Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology developed by the professors allows DNA to be read ultra-fast, cheaply, and accurately.
The technology has significant societal benefits, for example, in the fight against deadly diseases such as COVID-19 and cancer. It can also be used to fight crop diseases and to enhance food production.
DNA sequencing technology is now widely used by researchers around the world. The method is also used in medical research at Tampere University.
The prize was announced in a virtual gala organised on 18 May 2021. The prize was awarded by the President of Finland Sauli Niinistö, the patron of the competition. The prize was last awarded in 2018 to physicist Tuomo Suntola for his work on Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) technology.
The Millennium Technology Prize is based on the societal and global impact of science and its practical applicability. The objective of this prestigious international award is to promote high-quality scientific and technological research and development. It encourages the recipients to further research and develop their innovations. It also raises awareness of the Finnish scientific thinking, which emphasises practicality and solution-orientation.
Five young researchers competed for the best scientific pitch
Five young researchers competed to win the Millennium Pitching competition, which is part of the Millennium Innovation Forum. The best pitch was presented by Sachin Kochrekar from the University of Turku on “Carbon dioxide to fuel”.
The third prize was given to Samu-Pekka Ojanen, while representing Vaisala in the finals, is a doctoral student at Tampere University's Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences. Tampere University was represented in the finals by Veera Koskue, a doctoral researcher in bio-economics and the circular economy, who studies the recycling of nutrients from wastewater into fertilisers.
A total of 17 doctoral students from Finnish research organisations took part in the virtual pre-selection rounds of the competition.
Visit the Millennium Innovation Forum website to read a description of all the topics. You can watch the pitching competition final on Youtube.
Tampere University is an event partner of the Millennium Technology Prize 2020 and one of the university partners of the Millennium Innovation Forum.
Read more on Millennium Technology Prize website.
