The BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Awards uphold the value of science, reason and culture in the face of today’s great challenges
The Frontiers of Knowledge Awards ceremony paid tribute to 20 leading figures in science and culture, recognized for their decisive contributions to the advancement of knowledge. Carlos Torres Vila, President of the BBVA Foundation, emphasized in his speech that we are living in complex times, marked by enormous challenges, but we also possess “extraordinary tools to confront them: science, technology and culture.”
Among the laureates of the 17th edition of the awards are the researchers behind a pharmaceutical revolution against diabetes and obesity; the pioneers of more efficient and sustainable green chemistry; the developers of transformative technologies such as biometrics and generative artificial intelligence; and the ecologist who documented the impact of climate change on the geographical redistribution of species across the planet.
The work of this year’s awardees “has once again offered an exceptional overview of cutting-edge knowledge and human talent. From biomedicine to the humanities, the recognized contributions share a key trait: their transformative impact on people’s lives and their capacity to uncover solutions to the world’s major challenges,” said Carlos Torres Vila.
All these achievements share a common thread: “knowledge as a borderless public good,” the BBVA Foundation President remarked. They also show how global challenges demand coordination, knowledge and education. “At BBVA, this conviction is part of our identity and is expressed through a clear and ambitious purpose: ‘Support your drive to go further’. Because progress is not only possible-it is a deeply human aspiration. The drive to improve, to exceed ourselves, to reach further, is something we all share: individuals, companies and institutions.”
The President of the BBVA Foundation and the President of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Eloísa del Pino, presided over the ceremony, which featured an opening address by the mayor of Bilbao, Juan Mari Aburto, and a closing speech by the Lehendakari Imanol Pradales.
In her remarks, the CSIC President stressed the “shared aspiration” uniting all of this year’s laureates: not only to “deepen our understanding of social and natural phenomena, their causes and consequences,” but also to “identify possible ways to transform such phenomena when they deviate from what is desirable.” The awardees, she concluded, “show us that it is possible to reconcile the ideal of pure knowledge with the responsibility to contribute to the common good.”
“The times we live in require us to defend, more strongly than ever, the role of science, knowledge and critical thinking not only as drivers of competitiveness, social cohesion and quality of life, but also as pillars of coexistence and democracy,” said Lehendakari Pradales in his closing speech. “Knowledge and culture make us freer. The creation of advanced knowledge is both a pillar and a competitive advantage of developed societies.”
The event also included a broad representation of the international juries of the eight award categories, drawn from some of the leading universities in Europe and North America. The more than 1,200 attendees included prominent researchers, artists, university faculty, science policy officials, scientific societies, business leaders, and leading members of the media.
All awardees of the 17th Frontiers of Knowledge Awards
- Basic Sciences: Avelino Corma, John F. Hartwig and Helmut Schwarz.
- Biology and Biomedicine: Daniel Joshua Drucker, Joel Habener, Jens Juul Holst and Svetlana Mojsov.
- Information and Communication Technologies: Anil Jain and Michael I. Jordan.
- Climate Change and Environmental Sciences: Camille Parmesan.
- Economics, Finance and Business Management: Olivier Blanchard, Jordi Galí and Michael Woodford.
- Humanities: Philip Kitcher.
- Social Sciences: Icek Ajzen, Dolores Albarracín, Mahzarin R. Banaji, Anthony G. Greenwald and Richard E. Petty.
- Music and Opera: Toshio Hosokawa.
Frontiers laureates who have gone on to win the Nobel Prize
Thirty one researchers recognized by the BBVA Foundation have later received the Nobel Prize, an external indicator of the excellence of he Frontiers of Knowledge Awards.
Eleven Frontiers laureates went on to win the Nobel Prize in Economics: Lars Peter Hansen (2013), Jean Tirole (2014), Angus Deaton (2015), William Nordhaus (2018), Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo (2019), Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson (2020), David Card (2021), Ben Bernanke (2022), Claudia Goldin (2023) and Daron Acemoglu (2024).
In Medicine, six Frontiers laureates later received the Nobel Prize: Shinya Yamanaka (2011), James P. Allison (2018), David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian (2021), and Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman (2023).
Seven Frontiers laureates were subsequently awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics: Didier Queloz and Michel G. E. Mayor (2019), Klaus Hasselmann and Syukuro Manabe (2021), Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier (2023), and Geoffrey Hinton (2024).
Lastly, six Frontiers laureates have received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Robert J. Lefkowitz in 2012, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna in 2020, and David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper (2024).