Merck Awards EUR 1 Million Science Prize

Merck, one of the world's oldest science and technology companies, celebrated its 350th anniversary with a scientific curiosity and future-themed conference called 'Curious 2018 Future Insight' organised in Darmstadt, the city where it was founded. The company announced a EUR 1 million award programme to support scientific research at this event.

Founded in 1668 in Darmstadt, Germany, science and technology company Merck is celebrating its 350th anniversary. For this occasion, the company organised a scientific curiosity and future-themed conference called 'Curious 2018 Future Insight' in the same city. The three-day conference was attended by 35 scientists, five of whom are Nobel Prize laureates. The company, which hosted leading scientists in their fields, also announced a EUR 1 million award programme.

To Be Awarded Over 35 Years

Merck Board Chairman and CEO Stefan Oschmann announced at the conference that the Future Insight Prize will be awarded over 35 years to research projects that serve scientific advancement. The Future Insight Prize awards will be directed towards research in health, nutrition and energy sectors. In health, research eliminating antibiotic resistance will be awarded until 2020; in nutrition, research addressing food needs of the rapidly growing global population will be awarded until 2021; and in the energy category, work on photocatalytic systems will be awarded until 2022. Award-winning research will be selected from innovative projects that serve the future of humanity.

First Award to Be Presented in 2019

The first Future Insight Prize award will be presented at the 'Curious 2019' programme in 2019. Stefan Oschmann said that with this award, they aim to encourage innovative development of fundamental products and technologies and to bring meaningful perspectives to life for the benefit of humanity. The three-day 'Curious 2018 Future Insight' conference organised on the occasion of Merck's 350th anniversary was attended by 35 scientists, five of whom are Nobel Prize laureates. The sessions and presentations were followed with great interest by the audience.