The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards (Spanish: Premios Fundación BBVA Fronteras del Conocimiento) are an international award programme recognizing significant contributions in the areas of scientific research and cultural creation. The categories that make up the Frontiers of Knowledge Awards respond to the knowledge map of the present age. As well as the fundamental knowledge that is at their core, they address developments in information and communication technologies, and interactions between biology and medicine, ecology and conservation biology, climate change, economics, humanities and social sciences, and, finally, contemporary musical creation and performance. Specific categories are reserved for developing knowledge fields of critical relevance to confront central challenges of the 21st century, as in the case of the two environmental awards.

The awards were established in 2008, with the first set of winners receiving their prizes in 2009. The BBVA Foundation – belonging to financial group BBVA – is partnered in the scheme by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the country's premier public research organization.

Categories

There are eight award categories: basic science, biology and biomedicine, climate change, ecology and conservation biology, information and communications technologies, economics, finance and management, music and opera, humanities and social sciences (a new category in the 11th edition). Previously, in the first 10 editions, there was a category in development cooperation.

Juries

Eight juries, one for each category, analyze the nominations put forward by international academic and research institutions.[1][2] To reach their decision, the juries meet during January and February in the Marqués de Salamanca Palace, Madrid headquarters of the BBVA Foundation. The day after the jury's decision, the name of the winners(s) and the achievements that earned them the award are revealed at an announcement event in the same location.

Ceremony

The awards are presented in June each year at a ceremony held, from the 11th edition, in the Euskalduna Palace at Bilbao, in the Basque Country.[3][4][5][6]

BBVA Foundation

The BBVA Foundation engages in the promotion of research, advanced training and the transmission of knowledge to society, focusing on the emerging issues of the 21st century in five areas: Environment, Biomedicine and Health, Economy and Society, Basic Sciences and Technology, and Arts and Humanities. The BBVA Foundation designs, develops and finances research projects in these areas; facilitates advanced specialist training through grants, courses, seminars and workshops; organizes award schemes for researchers and professionals whose work has contributed significantly to the advancement of knowledge; and communicates and disseminates such new knowledge through publications, databases, lecture series, debates, exhibitions and audiovisual and electronic media.[7][8]

Prizes

Each BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge laureate receives a commemorative artwork, a diploma and a cash prize of 400,000 euros per category. Awards may not be granted posthumously, and when an award is shared, its monetary amount is divided equally among the recipients.

The commemorative artwork is created by Madrid sculptor Blanca Muñoz, B.A. in Fine Arts from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Holder of scholarships at Calcografia Nazionale (1989), awarded by the Italian Government, at the Spanish Royal Academy in Rome (1990), and in Mexico City (1992), awarded by the Mexican Department of Foreign Affairs, her numerous distinctions include the 1999 National Print Prize.

As of 2023, 22 BBVA Foundation laureates have also won the Nobel Prize.

Laureates

Year Category Laureate Nationality Nobel Prize
2008 Basic Sciences Ignacio Cirac  Spain
Peter Zoller  Austria
Biology and Biomedicine Joan Massagué  Spain
Climate Change Wallace S. Broecker  United States
Ecology and Conservation Biology Thomas Lovejoy  United States
William Laurance
Information and Communication Technologies Jacob Ziv  Israel
Economics, Finance and Management Jean Tirole  France Economic Sciences 2014
Development Cooperation Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab  United States
Arts Steven Holl  United States
2009 Basic Sciences Richard Zare  United States
Michael Fisher  United Kingdom
Biology and Biomedicine Robert Lefkowitz  United States Chemistry 2012
Climate Change Klaus Hasselmann  Germany Physics 2021
Ecology and Conservation Biology Peter B. Reich  United States
Information and Communication Technologies Thomas Kailath  United States
Economics, Finance and Management Andreu Mas-Colell  Spain
Hugo F. Sonnenschein  United States
Development Cooperation Development Research Institute  United States
Contemporary Music Cristóbal Halffter  Spain
2010 Basic Sciences Gabor A. Somorjai  United States  Hungary
Biology and Biomedicine Shinya Yamanaka  Japan Physiology 2012
Climate Change Nicholas Stern  United Kingdom
Ecology and Conservation Biology Edward Osborne Wilson  United States
Information and Communication Technologies Donald Knuth  United States
Economics, Finance and Management Lars Peter Hansen  United States Economic Sciences 2013
Development Cooperation International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)  Finland
Contemporary Music Helmut Lachenmann  Germany
2011 Basic Sciences Michel Mayor   Switzerland Physics 2019
Didier Queloz
Biology and Biomedicine Alexander Varshavsky  United States
Climate Change Isaac Held  United States
Ecology and Conservation Biology Daniel H. Janzen  United States
Information and Communication Technologies Carver Mead  United States
Economics, Finance and Management Angus Deaton  United Kingdom Economic Sciences 2015
Development Cooperation Ciro de Quadros  Brazil
Contemporary Music Salvatore Sciarrino  Italy
2012 Basic Sciences Ingrid Daubechies[9]  Belgium
David Mumford[10]  United Kingdom
Biology and Biomedicine Douglas Coleman[11]  Canada
Jeffrey Friedman[12]  United States
Climate Change Susan Solomon[13]  United States
Ecology and Conservation Biology Jane Lubchenco[14]  United States
Information and Communication Technologies Lotfi A. Zadeh[15]  Azerbaijan
Economics, Finance and Management Paul Milgrom[16]  United States Economic Sciences 2020
Development Cooperation DNDi[17]   Switzerland
Contemporary Music Pierre Boulez[18]  France
2013 Basic Sciences Maximilian Haider[19]  Austria
Harald Rose[20]  Germany
Knut Urban[21]
Biology and Biomedicine Adrian Bird[22]  United Kingdom
Climate Change Christopher Field[23]  United States
Ecology and Conservation Biology Paul R. Ehrlich[24]  United States
Information and Communication Technologies Marvin Minsky[25]  United States
Economics, Finance and Management Elhanan Helpman[26]  Israel
Development Cooperation Pratham[27]  India
Contemporary Music Steve Reich[28]  United States
2014 Basic Sciences Stephen Buchwald[29]  United States
Biology and Biomedicine Joseph Schlessinger[30]  United States
Charles Sawyers[31]
Tony Hunter[32]  United Kingdom
Climate Change Richard Alley[33]  United States
Ecology and Conservation Biology David Tilman[34]  United States
Information and Communication Technologies Leonard Kleinrock[35]  United States
Economics, Finance and Management Richard Blundell  United Kingdom
David Card  Canada Economic Sciences 2021
Development Cooperation Helen Keller International  United States
Contemporary Music György Kurtág[36]  Hungary
2015 Basic Sciences Stephen Hawking  United Kingdom
Viatcheslav Mukhanov  Germany
Biology and Biomedicine Edward Boyden  United States
Karl Deisseroth  United States
Gero Miesenböck  Austria
Climate Change Veerabhadran Ramanathan  India
Ecology and Conservation Biology Ilkka Hanski  Finland
Information and Communication Technologies Stephen Cook  Canada
Economics, Finance and Management Robert Wilson  United States Economic Sciences 2020
Development Cooperation Martin Ravallion  Australia
Contemporary Music Georges Aperghis  Greece
2016 Basic Sciences David Cox  United Kingdom
Bradley Efron  United States
Biology and Biomedicine Emmanuelle Charpentier  France Chemistry 2020
Jennifer Doudna  United States Chemistry 2020
Francisco Mojica  Spain
Climate Change James Hansen  United States
Syukuro Manabe  Japan /  United States Physics 2021
Ecology and Conservation Biology Gene E. Likens  United States
Marten Scheffer  Netherlands
Information and Communication Technologies Geoffrey Hinton  United Kingdom
Economics, Finance and Management Daron Acemoglu  Turkey /  United States
Development Cooperation Peter J. Myler  United States
Pedro L. Alonso  Spain
Contemporary Music Sofia Gubaidulina  Russia
2017 Basic Sciences Omar M. Yaghi  Jordan /  United States
Biology and Biomedicine James P. Allison  United States Medicine 2018
Climate Change William Nordhaus  United States Economic Sciences 2018
Ecology and Conservation Biology Rosemary Grant  United Kingdom
Peter Grant  United Kingdom
Information and Communication Technologies Shafi Goldwasser  United States
Ronald Rivest
Silvio Micali  Italy
Adi Shamir  Israel
Economics, Finance and Management Robert Porter  Canada
Ariel Pakes  Canada /  United States
Timothy Bresnahan  United States
Development Cooperation Nubia Muñoz  Colombia
Contemporary Music Kaija Saariaho  Finland
2018 Basic Sciences Charles L. Kane[37]  United States
Eugene J. Mele[38]
Biology and Biomedicine Jeffrey I. Gordon[39][40]  United States
Climate Change Anny Cazenave[41]  France
John A. Church[42]  Australia
Jonathan M. Gregory[43]  United Kingdom
Ecology and Conservation Biology Gretchen Daily[44]  United States
Georgina Mace[45]  United Kingdom
Information and Communication Technologies Ivan Sutherland[46]  United States
Economics, Finance and Management Claudia Goldin[47]  United States Economic Sciences 2023
Humanities and Social Sciences Noam Chomsky[48]  United States
Music and Opera John Adams[49]  United States
2019 Basic Sciences Gilles Brassard  Canada
Charles H. Bennett  United States
Peter Shor
Biology and Biomedicine Michael N. Hall  United States /   Switzerland
David M. Sabatini  United States
Climate Change Kerry A. Emanuel  United States
Ecology and Conservation Biology Daniel Pauly  Canada
Terence Hughes  Ireland /  Australia
Carlos M. Duarte  Spain
Information and Communications Technology Isabelle Guyon  France
Bernhard Schölkopf  Germany
Vladimir Vapnik  Russia /  United States
Economics, Finance and Management Philippe Aghion  France
Peter W. Howitt  Canada
Humanities and Social Cognition Susan Fiske  United States
Shelley E. Taylor
Music and Opera Arvo Pärt  Estonia
2020 Basic Sciences Paul Alivisatos  United States
Michael Grätzel   Switzerland
Biology and Biomedicine David Julius  United States Medicine 2021
Ardem Patapoutian  Lebanon /  United States Medicine 2021
Climate Change Neil Adger[50]  United Kingdom
Ian Burton
Karen O'Brien  United States
Ecology and Conservation Biology Sandra Díaz  Argentina
Sandra Lavorel  France
Mark Westoby  Australia
Information and Communications Technology John L. Hennessy  United States
David A. Patterson
Economics, Finance and Management Ben Bernanke  United States Economic Sciences 2022
Mark Gertler
Nobuhiro Kiyotaki  Japan
John Moore  United Kingdom
Humanities and Social Sciences Gerald Holton  Austria /  United States
Music and Opera Peter Eötvös  Hungary
2021 Basic Sciences Charles Fefferman  United States
Jean-François Le Gall  France
Biology and Biomedicine Katalin Kariko  Hungary Medicine 2023
Drew Weissman  United States Medicine 2023
Robert S. Langer
Climate Change Lonnie G. Thompson  United States
Ellen Mosley-Thompson
Ecology and Conservation Biology Lenore Fahrig  Canada
Simon Levin  United States
Steward Pickett
Information and Communications Technology Judea Pearl  Israel /  United States
Economics, Finance and Management Matthew O. Jackson  United States
Humanities and Social Sciences Mark Granovetter[51]  United States
Music and Opera Philip Glass  United States
2022 Basic Sciences Paul Corkum  Canada
Ferenc Krausz  Hungary /  Germany Physics 2023
Anne L’Huillier  France /  Sweden Physics 2023
Biology and Biomedicine David Baker  United States
John Jumper
Demis Hassabis  United Kingdom
Climate Change Ellen Thomas  United States
James Zachos
Ecology and Conservation Biology Susan Alberts  United States
Jeanne Altmann
Marlene Zuk
Information and Communications Technology Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli  Italy /  United States
Economics, Finance and Management Timothy J. Besley  United Kingdom
Torsten Persson  Sweden
Guido Tabellini  Italy
Humanities and Social Sciences Steven Pinker  Canada
Peter Singer  Australia
Music and Opera Thomas Adès  United Kingdom
2023 Basic Sciences - -
Biology and Biomedicine Franz-Ulrich Hartl  Germany
Arthur L. Horwich  United States
Kazutoshi Mori  Japan
Peter Walter  United States
Climate Change Dorthe Dahl-Jensen  Denmark
Jean Jouzel  France
Valérie Masson-Delmotte  France
Jakob Schwander   Switzerland
Thomas Stocker   Switzerland
Ecology and Conservation Biology Gerardo Ceballos  Mexico
Rodolfo Dirzo  Mexico
Information and Communication Technologies - -
Economics, Finance and Management - -
Humanities and Social Sciences - -
Music and Opera - -

Laureates per country

Below is a chart of all laureates per country (updated to 2023 laureates). Some laureates are counted more than once if they have multiple citizenships.

Country Number of laureates
 United States 102
 United Kingdom 19
 France 9
 Canada 9
 Germany 7
 Hungary 6
 Spain 6
 Austria 4
 Russia 3
 Italy 3
 Israel 3

 Japan

2
 Sweden 2
 Brazil 1
 Argentina 1
 Netherlands 1

References

  1. ^ "Hemos perdido el tiempo con el cambio climático". El País. January 29, 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  2. ^ Rivera, Alicia (February 11, 2014). "El sistema de ciencia español no responde a las necesidades del siglo XXI". El País. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  3. ^ "Entrega de los premios Fronteras de la Fundación BBVA". El País. June 10, 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  4. ^ Guerrero, Teresa (June 21, 2013). "Diez sabios defienden la ciencia frente a la crisis". El Mundo. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  5. ^ Corral, Miguel G. (June 22, 2012). "Ante la crisis, más ciencia". El Mundo. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  6. ^ "La Fundación BBVA entrega sus premios Fronteras del Conocimiento". ABC. June 17, 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  7. ^ "La Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando premia a la Fundación BBVA". El País. January 12, 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  8. ^ "La ciencia vale la pena". La Vanguardia. June 22, 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  9. ^ Soto, A. (January 22, 2013). "Los matemáticos Ingrid Daubechies9-url=https://archive.today/20150205113423/http://sevilla.abc.es/sociedad/20130122/rc-matematicos-ingrid-daubechies-david-201301221330.html". ABC.
  10. ^ Corral, Miguel G. (January 25, 2013). "Premio Fronteras a los matemáticos clave para la robótica y el audio y vídeo". El Mundo. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  11. ^ Tobella, Alba (January 29, 2013). "Premio a los descubridores de la hormona que regula el apetito". El País. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  12. ^ Díaz Landaluce, Ixone (June 17, 2013). "La obesidad está en el cerebro, no en el plato". XL Semanal. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  13. ^ López, Celeste (December 27, 2013). "Llegaremos a tiempo de parar el cambio climático". Magazine La Vanguardia. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  14. ^ López Rejas, Javier (June 14, 2013). "Jane Lubchenco "Los océanos se hallan en un grave deterioro"". El Cultural. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  15. ^ Peirón, Francesc (June 14, 2013). "Hoy todo se convierte en dinero". La Vanguardia. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  16. ^ Matos Elices, María (June 20, 2013). "Pocos economistas van de lo concreto a lo de mayor alcance". Cinco Días. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  17. ^ "La fundación 'Medicamentos para enfermedades olvidadas' recibe el premio BBVA". El Mundo. February 26, 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  18. ^ Verdú, Daniel (February 26, 2013). "Me decepciona que el arte moderno esté más expuesto que la música". El País. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  19. ^ "El microscopio de precisión subatómica, premio Fronteras del Conocimiento". El País. January 21, 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  20. ^ López Rejas, Javier (January 21, 2014). "Los avances técnicos del microscopio electrónico, Premio Fundación BBVA". El Cultural. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  21. ^ López Rejas, Javier (May 2, 2014). "Knut Urban: "Los átomos han dejado de ser un campo exótico"". El Cultural. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  22. ^ Sánchez-Monge, María (June 23, 2014). "Adrian Bird: "Soy como un hereje de la epigenética"". Diario Médico. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  23. ^ Fresneda, Carlos (June 4, 2014). "'Es fantástico que Obama obligue a reducir las emisiones de CO2'". El Mundo. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  24. ^ "Fundación BBVA premia a Paul Ehrlich por sus estudios sobre biodiversidad". La Vanguardia. February 4, 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  25. ^ Elola, Joseba (August 31, 2014). "Nadie está al frente del planeta". El País. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  26. ^ Cymerman, Henrique (June 13, 2014). "Es probable que veamos más protestas y más presión para que se hagan cambios". Magazine La Vanguardia. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  27. ^ Resino, Marta (February 25, 2014). "La ONG Pratham, galardonada por educar a 33 millones de niños en la India". El Mundo. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  28. ^ Ojeda, Alberto (June 13, 2014). "Steve Reich: "Los minimalistas abrimos las ventanas de los auditorios"". El Cultural. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  29. ^ BBVA (20 January 2015). "The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences goes to Stephen Buchwald for creating more efficient, stable, broad-spectrum catalysts of importance in drug discovery". Reuters. Archived from the original (press release) on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  30. ^ "La Fundación BBVA premia a tres investigadores por el tratamiento personalizado del cáncer". Expansión. January 15, 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  31. ^ "Los pioneros del tratamiento personalizado del cáncer, premio Fundación BBVA". La Vanguardia. January 27, 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  32. ^ "Medicina personalizada contra el cáncer". El País. February 4, 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  33. ^ Acosta, A. (January 9, 2015). "El glaciólogo Richard Alley, premio Fronteras del Conocimiento de Cambio Climático". ABC. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  34. ^ Mosquera, Eva (February 3, 2015). "Premio al pionero que demostró el valor de la biodiversidad". El Mundo. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  35. ^ "El artífice de la primera conexión de datos en internet,Premio Fundación BBVA". La Vanguardia. January 13, 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  36. ^ Leticia, Yustos (February 10, 2015). "György Kurtág premio Fundación BBVA Fronteras del Conocimiento en la especialidad de música contemporánea". Doce Notas. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  37. ^ "La Fundación BBVA premia a los descubridores de los aislantes topológicos". La Sexta TV. 5 March 2019.
  38. ^ "Los físicos Charles Kane y Eugene Mele, premiados por Fundación BBVA por descubrir los aislantes topológicos". Europa Press. 5 March 2019.
  39. ^ Laureates 2018
  40. ^ Del Corral, Pedro (29 January 2019). "El investigador que descubrió que las bacterias intestinales no son enemigas". Diario La Razón.
  41. ^ Portillo, Javier (30 January 2019). "Anny Cazenave: "El aumento del nivel del mar está cambiado la forma de la Tierra"". Diario El País.
  42. ^ Díaz, Raquel (9 January 2019). "Premio a los pioneros en la detección del aumento del nivel del mar por el cambio climático". Diario El Mundo.
  43. ^ "Cazenave, Church y Gregory, Premio Fronteras Conocimiento en Cambio Climático". No. EFE Verde. 9 January 2019.
  44. ^ Portillo, Javier (5 February 2019). "Premio Fronteras del Conocimiento para las profesoras Daily y Mace, revolucionarias de la ecología". Diario El País.
  45. ^ Díaz, Raquel (5 February 2019). "La Fundación BBVA premia a las visionarias que cuantificaron el valor de la naturaleza". Diario El Mundo.
  46. ^ "Ivan Sutherland, el "padre de la computación gráfica" que revolucionó nuestra interacción con las máquinas". BBC News. 2 March 2019.
  47. ^ "La fundación BBVA premia a Claudia Goldin por su análisis de la brecha de género". El Mundo. 26 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  48. ^ Ruiz Mantilla, Jesús (16 April 2019). "Noam Chomsky consigue el Premio Fronteras del Conocimiento". El País.
  49. ^ Bravo, Julio (10 March 2019). "John Adams: "Nadie puede vivir sin música"". ABC.
  50. ^ Laureates 2020
  51. ^ "The Frontiers Award goes to Mark Granovetter for discovering the importance of an extended network of "acquaintances" in economic and social life". 6 April 2022.

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