Future Insight Prize

The Future Insight Prize is an award of up to €1 million which has been awarded since 2019 to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the company Merck. The award recognises creative solutions in the fields of health, nutrition and energy.¹

Awardees

Recipients to date:¹

2019: Health: James Earl Crowe, Jr. (Vanderbilt University) and Pardis Sabeti (Broad Institute)
2020: Health: Stephan Sieber (Technical University of Munich)
2021: Nutrition: Ting Lu (University of Illinois) and Steve Techtmann (Michigan Technological University)²³
2022: Energy: Tobias J. Erb (Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology)⁴
2023: Health: Khalid Salaita (Emory University)
2024: Health: Lauren Gardner (Johns Hopkins University)
2025: Health: Magdalena Götz (Helmholtz Centre Munich)

References

"Future Insight Prize". merckgroup.com. Retrieved 15 October 2025.
"Scientists Win $1.2 Million Prize for Research That Could Make Protein Shakes from Plastic Waste". The Wall Street Journal. 13 July 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2025.
"'Generator' Turns Plastic Trash Into Edible Protein". Newsweek. 25 July 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2025.
"Scientists Get $1 Million Prize to Fight Climate Change With 'Photosynthesis 2.0'". The Wall Street Journal. 13 July 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2025.

[Future_Insight_Prize_Website-1] "Future Insight Prize". merckgroup.com. Retrieved 15 October 2025.

[2] "Scientists Win $1.2 Million Prize for Research That Could Make Protein Shakes from Plastic Waste". The Wall Street Journal. 13 July 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2025.

[3] "'Generator' Turns Plastic Trash Into Edible Protein". Newsweek. 25 July 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2025.

[4] "Scientists Get $1 Million Prize to Fight Climate Change With 'Photosynthesis 2.0'". The Wall Street Journal. 13 July 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2025.

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