Three scientists working at BIST Community research centres have received Rei Jaume I Awards this year: ICREA Prof. at ICFO Antonio Acín (Prize for Fundamental Science), ICREA Prof. at IBEC Xavier Trepat (Prize for Biomedical Research), and ICREA Prof. at CRG Luis Serrano (Prize for New Technologies). These awards aim to bring together science and business to promote research, scientific development and entrepreneurship in Spain.
Recipients from the BIST Community of the 2024 Rei Jaume I Awards. From left to right: Antonio Acín, Luis Serrano and Xavier Trepat.
The Rei Jaume I Prizes were created in 1989 to recognise researchers whose work is highly significant and has been developed mostly in Spain. The prizes are awarded annually, and each winner receives a gold medal, a diploma and 100,000 euros. On receiving this economic endowment, they undertake to reinvest part of the amount in research and entrepreneurship in Spain.
The juries, convened each year to decide the winners, are made up of leading personalities in science and business from all over the world. More than 63 Nobel laureates have served on these juries, with 20 participating in the 2024 edition, where a total of 232 candidatures were presented for the seven prizes awarded in the categories of Basic Research, Economics, Biomedical Research, Clinical Research and Public Health, Protection of the Environment, New Technologies and Entrepreneurship.
The awardees were announced on June 4th at ceremony held at the Palau de la Generalitat de Valencia, attended by the Valencian Foundation of the Rei Jaume I Awards, the awards juries, as well as representatives of the award collaborators.
ICREA Prof. at ICFO, Antonio Acín, leader of the Quantum Information Theory group, was named awardee of the Prize for Fundamental Science “for his revolutionary theoretical contributions in the field of quantum information, for example, the certification of random numbers of great relevance for the development of quantum communication.”
The Prize for Biomedical Research was awarded to ICREA Prof. at IBEC, Xavier Trepat, head of the Integrative cell and tissue dynamics group, whose efforts aim to understand how cells and tissues grow, invade, move and regenerate in a wide range of physiological and pathophysiological processes.
Finally, ICREA Prof. at CRG, Luis Serrano, leader of the Systems and Synthetic Biology group was awarded the Prize for New Technologies for his contributions to research in systems biology, synthetic biology and protein design, leading to significant impacts for society.
The recipients in the other four categories are:
Prize for Economics: Francisco Pérez, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas
Prize for Environmental Protection: Sergio M. Vicente-Serrano, Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (CSIC)
Prize for Entrepreneurship: Victor Amarnani, A4B Group Corp
Prize for Clinical Research and Public Health: Jordi Sunyer, ISGlobal
Learn more:
Press release: Premios Rei Jaume I
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