BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award
International award programme
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The awards were established in 2008, with the first set of winners receiving their prizes in 2009. The BBVA Foundation — belonging to financial group Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria — is partnered in the scheme by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the country's premier public research organization.
Details
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
Previously, in the first 10 editions, there was a category in development cooperation.
Eight juries, one for each category, analyze the nominations put forward by international academic and research institutions. 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.
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.
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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.
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
Laureates per country
Below is a chart of all laureates per country (updated to included 2025 laureates). Some laureates are counted more than once if they have multiple citizenships.