APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research, and Education

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Science Prize for Innovation, Research, and Education (“ASPIRE”) is an annual award that recognizes young scientists who have demonstrated a commitment to both excellence in scientific research, as evidenced by scholarly publication, and cooperation with scientists from other APEC member economies.

The ASPIRE prize supports APEC’s mission to...

• strengthen international science and technology networks;
• enhance economic growth, trade, and investment opportunities in harmony with sustainable development, through policies, innovative R&D and technologies, and knowledge sharing; and
• improve linkages and efficiency between research and innovation.

Each year the APEC host economy is asked to provide a theme to guide nominations for the ASPIRE prize to be awarded in their host year. For its host year of 2019 Chile selects "Natural Laboratories” as the ASPIRE nominating theme. This theme focuses on how scientists are utilizing natural laboratories to benefit society through applications such as preventing disease by observing biodiversity, identifying infrastructure risks by drawing insights from weather patterns, and preserving populations through enhanced detection of tectonic activity.

Each member economy, through its representative on the APEC Policy Partnership for Science, Technology and Innovation (PPSTI), is invited to nominate one young scientist under the age of 40 to be considered for the 2019 ASPIRE prize. Nominees should demonstrate a commitment to excellence in scientific research and cooperation with scientists from other APEC member economies in subjects such as biology, chemistry, environmental science, physics, Earth science (including geology, oceanography, and atmospheric science), zoology, astronomy, and other relevant fields.

Any citizen of an APEC member economy is eligible to be nominated for the ASPIRE prize. Nominees must be living at the time of their nomination and be under the age of 40 as of 31 December of that year (i.e., all 2019 nominees must be under the age of 40 as of 31 December 2019).

The deadline for US nominees is 7 May 2019. The nomination packet for the prize can be found on the US Department of State website. Nominations should be sent to [email protected].