Each year, WTN honors individuals and corporations from 20 technology-related sectors. Winners are selected by their peers as being among the top five in the world in their field and doing work of the greatest long-term significance. Award categories range from biotechnology, space and energy to ethics, design and entertainment.
"We are delighted to have been recognized for our research by receiving this prestigious award," said Prof. Sam Safran, Weizmann Institute Vice President and incumbent of the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Chair. "It is especially gratifying knowing that this honor is bestowed upon us by our peers and colleagues."
Also recognized by the WTN was Weizmann Institute Prof. Yair Reisner, who was selected as a finalist in the health and medicine category for individuals. Finalists are selected after being judged as individuals throughout the world whose work holds the greatest potential long-term significance.
Nominees for the 2003 World Technology Awards were identified through an intensive, global process in which current WTN members, largely previous winners and finalists, submit their nominations. Voting is based on whom they perceive to be the most innovative in their respective categories.
James P. Clark, founder and chairman of the World Technology Network, commented, "The World Technology Awards program was created to recognize truly extraordinary innovation on a global scale: the sort of work that can be described as creating our collective future and changing our world. Weizmann Institute of Science's contribution in the fields of health and medicine is non pareil."
About the Weizmann Institute of Science: The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the world's top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions. Noted for its wide-ranging exploration of the natural and exact sciences, the Institute is home to 2,500 scientists, students, technicians and supporting staff. Institute research efforts include the search for new ways of fighting disease and hunger, examining leading questions in mathematics and computer science, probing the physics of matter and the universe, creating novel materials and developing new strategies for protecting the environment.
About the World Technology Network:
The World Technology Network (WTN) is a London-headquartered organization that was created to "encourage serendipity" – happy accidents – amongst those individuals and companies deemed by their peers to be the most innovative in the world of technology. WTN's areas of interest range from IT and communications to biotech, energy, materials, and space as well as related fields such as finance, marketing, policy, law, design, and ethics. Each year, WTN members come together through an ongoing global series of Roundtable Dinners, Chapter Meetings and other gatherings. Central events in the WTN calendar include the annual World Technology Summit and World Technology Awards – the culmination of a global judging program through which new members are nominated and selected and by which the network is both enlarged and refreshed.