Sequoia China Donates $78 Million to Set Up World Laureates Association Prize

This Monday, the opening ceremony of the 4th World Laureates Forum was held in Shanghai. At the forum, the World Laureates Association (WLA) announced the establishment of the WLA Prize, aimed at recognizing scientists who have made outstanding contributions in their respective fields around the world.

This prize, donated exclusively by Sequoia China with a contribution of 500 million yuan ($78 million), is the first international science prize to be supported exclusively by a single investment institution in China. There will be the first two individual prizes for “mathematics and intelligent science” and “medicine and life science.” It will be given once a year, with a reward amount of 10 million yuan for each individual prize.

The WLA will invite the world’s top scientists to serve as judges, and will set up a management committee, a selection committee and a jury to be responsible for the collection, preliminary and final evaluation of the prizes, and will officially start the selection and prize presentation in 2022.

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Talking about the original intention of donating this prize, Neil Shen, the founding and managing partner of Sequoia China, believes that the faith in scientific and technological innovation and scientific spirit has penetrated into Sequoia’s corporate culture, and Sequoia China has the responsibility and obligation to increase its support for cutting-edge technology and basic science, and encourage more researchers to work together to solve more and more urgent problems faced by mankind.