TheBBVA 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 groupBBVA – is partnered in the scheme by theSpanish National Research Council (CSIC), the country's premier public research organization.
There are eight award categories:basic science,biology andbiomedicine,climate change,ecology andconservation biology,information and communications technologies,economics,finance andmanagement,music andopera,humanities andsocial sciences (a new category in the 11th edition). Previously, in the first 10 editions, there was a category indevelopment cooperation.
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]
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]
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 theNobel Prize.
| 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 | Economic Sciences 2024 | |
| 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 | Chemistry 2024 | |
| John Jumper | Chemistry 2024 | |||
| Demis Hassabis | United Kingdom | Chemistry 2024 | ||
| 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 | Claire Voisin | France | |
| Yakov Eliashberg | United States | |||
| 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 | ||||
| Jakob Schwander | Switzerland | |||
| Thomas Stocker | ||||
| Ecology and Conservation Biology | Gerardo Ceballos |  Mexico | ||
| Rodolfo Dirzo | ||||
| Information and Communication Technologies | Takeo Kanade | Japan | ||
| Economics, Finance and Management | Partha Dasgupta | India / United Kingdom | ||
| Humanities and Social Sciences | Elke U. Weber | United States | ||
| Music and Opera | George Benjamin | United Kingdom | ||
| 2024 | Basic Sciences | Avelino Corma | Spain | |
| John F. Hartwig | United States | |||
| Helmut Schwarz | Germany | |||
| Biology and Biomedicine | Daniel Joshua Drucker | Canada | ||
| Joel F. Habener | United States | |||
| Jens Juul Holst | Denmark | |||
| Svetlana Mojsov |  North Macedonia / United States | |||
| Climate Change | Camille Parmesan | United States | ||
| Information and Communication Technologies | Anil Jain | India / United States | ||
| Michael I. Jordan | United States | |||
| Economics, Finance and Management | Olivier Blanchard | France / United States | ||
| Jordi Gali | Spain | |||
| Michael Dean Woodford | United States | |||
| Humanities and Social Sciences | Icek Ajzen |  Poland / United States | ||
| Dolores Albarracín | Argentina / United States | |||
| Mahzarin Banaji | India / United States | |||
| Anthony Greenwald | United States | |||
| Richard E. Petty | United States | |||
| Philip Kitcher | United States | |||
| Music and Opera | Toshio Hosokawa | Japan |
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 | 20 |
| France | 9 |
| Canada | 9 |
| Germany | 7 |
| Hungary | 6 |
| Spain | 6 |
| Japan | 5 |
| Austria | 4 |
| Russia | 3 |
| Italy | 3 |
| Israel | 3 |
| Sweden | 2 |
| Argentina | 2 |
| Brazil | 1 |
| Netherlands | 1 |