Gala dinner for Millennium Technology Prize laureates at the Presidential Palace

Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
Press Release 7 June 2010

The winners of the Millennium Technology Prize, the world's largest technology award, will for the first time be honoured at a gala dinner at the Presidential Palace this year.

The patron of the Millennium Technology Prize, President of the Republic Tarja Halonen, will present the prize on Wednesday, 9 June at an award ceremony at the Finnish National Opera. In the evening President Halonen and Dr Pentti Arajärvi will host a gala dinner at the Presidential Palace in honour of the laureates.

In addition to the laureates, political leaders and representatives of business, science and research institutes have been invited to the dinner. Around 160 guests are expected to attend.

The Millennium Technology Prize is presented every other year for a technological innovation that significantly improves the quality of human life today and in the future. The three laureates for the 2010 prize are Professor Sir Richard Friend and Professor Stephen Furber of Britain and Professor Michael Grätzel of Switzerland. The prize pool is 1.1 million euros, of which the main prize is 800,000 euros. This is the fourth time the prize will be awarded. The winner is selected by the board of directors of Technology Academy Finland on the basis of an international selection committee's recommendations.