# BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards (Spanish: Premios Fundación BBVA Fronteras del Conocimiento) are an international award programme recognizing significant contributions in the areas of scientific research and cultural creation. The categories that make up the Frontiers of Knowledge Awards respond to the knowledge map of the present age. As well as the fundamental knowledge that is at their core, they address developments in information and communication technologies, and interactions between biology and medicine, ecology and conservation biology, climate change, economics, humanities and social sciences, and, finally, contemporary musical creation and performance. Specific categories are reserved for developing knowledge fields of critical relevance to confront central challenges of the 21st century, as in the case of the two environmental awards.
The awards were established in 2008, with the first set of winners receiving their prizes in 2009. The BBVA Foundation – belonging to financial group BBVA – is partnered in the scheme by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the country's premier public research organization.

## Categories

There are eight award categories: basic science, biology and biomedicine, climate change, ecology and conservation biology, information and communications technologies, economics, finance and management, music and opera, humanities and social sciences (a new category in the 11th edition). Previously, in the first 10 editions, there was a category in development cooperation.

### Juries

Eight juries, one for each category, analyze the nominations put forward by international academic and research institutions. To reach their decision, the juries meet during January and February in the Marqués de Salamanca Palace, Madrid headquarters of the BBVA Foundation. The day after the jury's decision, the name of the winners(s) and the achievements that earned them the award are revealed at an announcement event in the same location.
Ceremony
The awards are presented in June each year at a ceremony held, from the 11th edition, in the Euskalduna Palace at Bilbao, in the Basque Country.

## BBVA Foundation

The BBVA Foundation engages in the promotion of research, advanced training and the transmission of knowledge to society, focusing on the emerging issues of the 21st century in five areas: Environment, Biomedicine and Health, Economy and Society, Basic Sciences and Technology, and Arts and Humanities. The BBVA Foundation designs, develops and finances research projects in these areas; facilitates advanced specialist training through grants, courses, seminars and workshops; organizes award schemes for researchers and professionals whose work has contributed significantly to the advancement of knowledge; and communicates and disseminates such new knowledge through publications, databases, lecture series, debates, exhibitions and audiovisual and electronic media.

## Prizes

Each BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge laureate receives a commemorative artwork, a diploma and a cash prize of 400,000 euros per category. Awards may not be granted posthumously, and when an award is shared, its monetary amount is divided equally among the recipients.
The commemorative artwork is created by Madrid sculptor Blanca Muñoz, B.A. in Fine Arts from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Holder of scholarships at Calcografia Nazionale (1989), awarded by the Italian Government, at the Spanish Royal Academy in Rome (1990), and in Mexico City (1992), awarded by the Mexican Department of Foreign Affairs, her numerous distinctions include the 1999 National Print Prize.
As of 2023, 22 BBVA Foundation laureates have also won the Nobel Prize.

### Laureates

| Year | Category | Laureate | Nationality | Nobel Prize |
| 2008 | Basic Sciences | Ignacio Cirac | Spain | |
| 2008 | Basic Sciences | Peter Zoller | Austria | |
| 2008 | Biology and Biomedicine | Joan Massagué | Spain | |
| 2008 | Climate Change | Wallace S. Broecker | United States | |
| 2008 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Thomas Lovejoy | United States | |
| 2008 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | William Laurance | United States | |
| 2008 | Information and Communication Technologies | Jacob Ziv | Israel | |
| 2008 | Economics, Finance and Management | Jean Tirole | France | Economic Sciences 2014 |
| 2008 | Development Cooperation | Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab | United States | |
| 2008 | Arts | Steven Holl | United States | |
| 2009 | Basic Sciences | Richard Zare | United States | |
| 2009 | Basic Sciences | Michael Fisher | United Kingdom | |
| 2009 | Biology and Biomedicine | Robert Lefkowitz | United States | Chemistry 2012 |
| 2009 | Climate Change | Klaus Hasselmann | Germany | Physics 2021 |
| 2009 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Peter B. Reich | United States | |
| 2009 | Information and Communication Technologies | Thomas Kailath | United States | |
| 2009 | Economics, Finance and Management | Andreu Mas-Colell | Spain | |
| 2009 | Economics, Finance and Management | Hugo F. Sonnenschein | United States | |
| 2009 | Development Cooperation | Development Research Institute | United States | |
| 2009 | Contemporary Music | Cristóbal Halffter | Spain | |
| 2010 | Basic Sciences | Gabor A. Somorjai | United States Hungary | |
| 2010 | Biology and Biomedicine | Shinya Yamanaka | Japan | Physiology 2012 |
| 2010 | Climate Change | Nicholas Stern | United Kingdom | |
| 2010 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Edward Osborne Wilson | United States | |
| 2010 | Information and Communication Technologies | Donald Knuth | United States | |
| 2010 | Economics, Finance and Management | Lars Peter Hansen | United States | Economic Sciences 2013 |
| 2010 | Development Cooperation | International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) | Finland | |
| 2010 | Contemporary Music | Helmut Lachenmann | Germany | |
| 2011 | Basic Sciences | Michel Mayor | Switzerland | Physics 2019 |
| 2011 | Basic Sciences | Didier Queloz | Switzerland | Physics 2019 |
| 2011 | Biology and Biomedicine | Alexander Varshavsky | United States | |
| 2011 | Climate Change | Isaac Held | United States | |
| 2011 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Daniel H. Janzen | United States | |
| 2011 | Information and Communication Technologies | Carver Mead | United States | |
| 2011 | Economics, Finance and Management | Angus Deaton | United Kingdom | Economic Sciences 2015 |
| 2011 | Development Cooperation | Ciro de Quadros | Brazil | |
| 2011 | Contemporary Music | Salvatore Sciarrino | Italy | |
| 2012 | Basic Sciences | Ingrid Daubechies | Belgium | |
| 2012 | Basic Sciences | David Mumford | United Kingdom | |
| 2012 | Biology and Biomedicine | Douglas Coleman | Canada | |
| 2012 | Biology and Biomedicine | Jeffrey Friedman | United States | |
| 2012 | Climate Change | Susan Solomon | United States | |
| 2012 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Jane Lubchenco | United States | |
| 2012 | Information and Communication Technologies | Lotfi A. Zadeh | Azerbaijan | |
| 2012 | Economics, Finance and Management | Paul Milgrom | United States | Economic Sciences 2020 |
| 2012 | Development Cooperation | DNDi | Switzerland | |
| 2012 | Contemporary Music | Pierre Boulez | France | |
| 2013 | Basic Sciences | Maximilian Haider | Austria | |
| 2013 | Basic Sciences | Harald Rose | Germany | |
| 2013 | Basic Sciences | Knut Urban | Germany | |
| 2013 | Biology and Biomedicine | Adrian Bird | United Kingdom | |
| 2013 | Climate Change | Christopher Field | United States | |
| 2013 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Paul R. Ehrlich | United States | |
| 2013 | Information and Communication Technologies | Marvin Minsky | United States | |
| 2013 | Economics, Finance and Management | Elhanan Helpman | Israel | |
| 2013 | Development Cooperation | Pratham | India | |
| 2013 | Contemporary Music | Steve Reich | United States | |
| 2014 | Basic Sciences | Stephen Buchwald | United States | |
| 2014 | Biology and Biomedicine | Joseph Schlessinger | United States | |
| 2014 | Biology and Biomedicine | Charles Sawyers | United States | |
| 2014 | Biology and Biomedicine | Tony Hunter | United Kingdom | |
| 2014 | Climate Change | Richard Alley | United States | |
| 2014 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | David Tilman | United States | |
| 2014 | Information and Communication Technologies | Leonard Kleinrock | United States | |
| 2014 | Economics, Finance and Management | Richard Blundell | United Kingdom | |
| 2014 | Economics, Finance and Management | David Card | Canada | Economic Sciences 2021 |
| 2014 | Development Cooperation | Helen Keller International | United States | |
| 2014 | Contemporary Music | György Kurtág | Hungary | |
| 2015 | Basic Sciences | Stephen Hawking | United Kingdom | |
| 2015 | Basic Sciences | Viatcheslav Mukhanov | Germany | |
| 2015 | Biology and Biomedicine | Edward Boyden | United States | |
| 2015 | Biology and Biomedicine | Karl Deisseroth | United States | |
| 2015 | Biology and Biomedicine | Gero Miesenböck | Austria | |
| 2015 | Climate Change | Veerabhadran Ramanathan | India | |
| 2015 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Ilkka Hanski | Finland | |
| 2015 | Information and Communication Technologies | Stephen Cook | Canada | |
| 2015 | Economics, Finance and Management | Robert Wilson | United States | Economic Sciences 2020 |
| 2015 | Development Cooperation | Martin Ravallion | Australia | |
| 2015 | Contemporary Music | Georges Aperghis | Greece | |
| 2016 | Basic Sciences | David Cox | United Kingdom | |
| 2016 | Basic Sciences | Bradley Efron | United States | |
| 2016 | Biology and Biomedicine | Emmanuelle Charpentier | France | Chemistry 2020 |
| 2016 | Biology and Biomedicine | Jennifer Doudna | United States | Chemistry 2020 |
| 2016 | Biology and Biomedicine | Francisco Mojica | Spain | |
| 2016 | Climate Change | James Hansen | United States | |
| 2016 | Climate Change | Syukuro Manabe | Japan / United States | Physics 2021 |
| 2016 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Gene E. Likens | United States | |
| 2016 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Marten Scheffer | Netherlands | |
| 2016 | Information and Communication Technologies | Geoffrey Hinton | United Kingdom | |
| 2016 | Economics, Finance and Management | Daron Acemoglu | Turkey / United States | Economic Sciences 2024 |
| 2016 | Development Cooperation | Peter J. Myler | United States | |
| 2016 | Development Cooperation | Pedro L. Alonso | Spain | |
| 2016 | Contemporary Music | Sofia Gubaidulina | Russia | |
| 2017 | Basic Sciences | Omar M. Yaghi | Jordan / United States | |
| 2017 | Biology and Biomedicine | James P. Allison | United States | Medicine 2018 |
| 2017 | Climate Change | William Nordhaus | United States | Economic Sciences 2018 |
| 2017 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Rosemary Grant | United Kingdom | |
| 2017 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Peter Grant | United Kingdom | |
| 2017 | Information and Communication Technologies | Shafi Goldwasser | United States | |
| 2017 | Information and Communication Technologies | Ronald Rivest | United States | |
| 2017 | Information and Communication Technologies | Silvio Micali | Italy | |
| 2017 | Information and Communication Technologies | Adi Shamir | Israel | |
| 2017 | Economics, Finance and Management | Robert Porter | Canada | |
| 2017 | Economics, Finance and Management | Ariel Pakes | Canada / United States | |
| 2017 | Economics, Finance and Management | Timothy Bresnahan | United States | |
| 2017 | Development Cooperation | Nubia Muñoz | Colombia | |
| 2017 | Contemporary Music | Kaija Saariaho | Finland | |
| 2018 | Basic Sciences | Charles L. Kane | United States | |
| 2018 | Basic Sciences | Eugene J. Mele | United States | |
| 2018 | Biology and Biomedicine | Jeffrey I. Gordon | United States | |
| 2018 | Climate Change | Anny Cazenave | France | |
| 2018 | Climate Change | John A. Church | Australia | |
| 2018 | Climate Change | Jonathan M. Gregory | United Kingdom | |
| 2018 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Gretchen Daily | United States | |
| 2018 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Georgina Mace | United Kingdom | |
| 2018 | Information and Communication Technologies | Ivan Sutherland | United States | |
| 2018 | Economics, Finance and Management | Claudia Goldin | United States | Economic Sciences 2023 |
| 2018 | Humanities and Social Sciences | Noam Chomsky | United States | |
| 2018 | Music and Opera | John Adams | United States | |
| 2019 | Basic Sciences | Gilles Brassard | Canada | |
| 2019 | Basic Sciences | Charles H. Bennett | United States | |
| 2019 | Basic Sciences | Peter Shor | United States | |
| 2019 | Biology and Biomedicine | Michael N. Hall | United States / Switzerland | |
| 2019 | Biology and Biomedicine | David M. Sabatini | United States | |
| 2019 | Climate Change | Kerry A. Emanuel | United States | |
| 2019 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Daniel Pauly | Canada | |
| 2019 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Terence Hughes | Ireland / Australia | |
| 2019 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Carlos M. Duarte | Spain | |
| 2019 | Information and Communications Technology | Isabelle Guyon | France | |
| 2019 | Information and Communications Technology | Bernhard Schölkopf | Germany | |
| 2019 | Information and Communications Technology | Vladimir Vapnik | Russia / United States | |
| 2019 | Economics, Finance and Management | Philippe Aghion | France | |
| 2019 | Economics, Finance and Management | Peter W. Howitt | Canada | |
| 2019 | Humanities and Social Cognition | Susan Fiske | United States | |
| 2019 | Humanities and Social Cognition | Shelley E. Taylor | United States | |
| 2019 | Music and Opera | Arvo Pärt | Estonia | |
| 2020 | Basic Sciences | Paul Alivisatos | United States | |
| 2020 | Basic Sciences | Michael Grätzel | Switzerland | |
| 2020 | Biology and Biomedicine | David Julius | United States | Medicine 2021 |
| 2020 | Biology and Biomedicine | Ardem Patapoutian | Lebanon / United States | Medicine 2021 |
| 2020 | Climate Change | Neil Adger | United Kingdom | |
| 2020 | Climate Change | Ian Burton | United Kingdom | |
| 2020 | Climate Change | Karen O'Brien | United States | |
| 2020 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Sandra Díaz | Argentina | |
| 2020 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Sandra Lavorel | France | |
| 2020 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Mark Westoby | Australia | |
| 2020 | Information and Communications Technology | John L. Hennessy | United States | |
| 2020 | Information and Communications Technology | David A. Patterson | United States | |
| 2020 | Economics, Finance and Management | Ben Bernanke | United States | Economic Sciences 2022 |
| 2020 | Economics, Finance and Management | Mark Gertler | United States | |
| 2020 | Economics, Finance and Management | Nobuhiro Kiyotaki | Japan | |
| 2020 | Economics, Finance and Management | John Moore | United Kingdom | |
| 2020 | Humanities and Social Sciences | Gerald Holton | Austria / United States | |
| 2020 | Music and Opera | Peter Eötvös | Hungary | |
| 2021 | Basic Sciences | Charles Fefferman | United States | |
| 2021 | Basic Sciences | Jean-François Le Gall | France | |
| 2021 | Biology and Biomedicine | Katalin Kariko | Hungary | Medicine 2023 |
| 2021 | Biology and Biomedicine | Drew Weissman | United States | Medicine 2023 |
| 2021 | Biology and Biomedicine | Robert S. Langer | United States | |
| 2021 | Climate Change | Lonnie G. Thompson | United States | |
| 2021 | Climate Change | Ellen Mosley-Thompson | United States | |
| 2021 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Lenore Fahrig | Canada | |
| 2021 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Simon Levin | United States | |
| 2021 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Steward Pickett | United States | |
| 2021 | Information and Communications Technology | Judea Pearl | Israel / United States | |
| 2021 | Economics, Finance and Management | Matthew O. Jackson | United States | |
| 2021 | Humanities and Social Sciences | Mark Granovetter | United States | |
| 2021 | Music and Opera | Philip Glass | United States | |
| 2022 | Basic Sciences | Paul Corkum | Canada | |
| 2022 | Basic Sciences | Ferenc Krausz | Hungary / Germany | Physics 2023 |
| 2022 | Basic Sciences | Anne L’Huillier | France / Sweden | Physics 2023 |
| 2022 | Biology and Biomedicine | David Baker | United States | Chemistry 2024 |
| 2022 | Biology and Biomedicine | John Jumper | United States | Chemistry 2024 |
| 2022 | Biology and Biomedicine | Demis Hassabis | United Kingdom | Chemistry 2024 |
| 2022 | Climate Change | Ellen Thomas | United States | |
| 2022 | Climate Change | James Zachos | United States | |
| 2022 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Susan Alberts | United States | |
| 2022 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Jeanne Altmann | United States | |
| 2022 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Marlene Zuk | United States | |
| 2022 | Information and Communications Technology | Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli | Italy / United States | |
| 2022 | Economics, Finance and Management | Timothy J. Besley | United Kingdom | |
| 2022 | Economics, Finance and Management | Torsten Persson | Sweden | |
| 2022 | Economics, Finance and Management | Guido Tabellini | Italy | |
| 2022 | Humanities and Social Sciences | Steven Pinker | Canada | |
| 2022 | Humanities and Social Sciences | Peter Singer | Australia | |
| 2022 | Music and Opera | Thomas Adès | United Kingdom | |
| 2023 | Basic Sciences | Claire Voisin | France | |
| 2023 | Basic Sciences | Yakov Eliashberg | United States | |
| 2023 | Biology and Biomedicine | Franz-Ulrich Hartl | Germany | |
| 2023 | Biology and Biomedicine | Arthur L. Horwich | United States | |
| 2023 | Biology and Biomedicine | Kazutoshi Mori | Japan | |
| 2023 | Biology and Biomedicine | Peter Walter | United States | |
| 2023 | Climate Change | Dorthe Dahl-Jensen | Denmark | |
| 2023 | Climate Change | Jean Jouzel | France | |
| 2023 | Climate Change | Valérie Masson-Delmotte | France | |
| 2023 | Climate Change | Jakob Schwander | Switzerland | |
| 2023 | Climate Change | Thomas Stocker | Switzerland | |
| 2023 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Gerardo Ceballos | Mexico | |
| 2023 | Ecology and Conservation Biology | Rodolfo Dirzo | Mexico | |
| 2023 | Information and Communication Technologies | Takeo Kanade | Japan | |
| 2023 | Economics, Finance and Management | Partha Dasgupta | India / United Kingdom | |
| 2023 | Humanities and Social Sciences | Elke U. Weber | United States | |
| 2023 | Music and Opera | George Benjamin | United Kingdom | |
| 2024 | Biology and Biomedicine | Daniel Joshua Drucker | Canada | |
| 2024 | Biology and Biomedicine | Joel F. Habener | United States | |
| 2024 | Biology and Biomedicine | Jens Juul Holst | Denmark | |
| 2024 | Biology and Biomedicine | Svetlana Mojsov | North Macedonia / United States |
| 2024 | Information and Communication Technologies | Anil Jain | India / United States | |
| 2024 | Information and Communication Technologies | Michael I. Jordan | United States |
| 2024 | Economics, Finance and Management | Olivier Blanchard | France / United States | |
| 2024 | Economics, Finance and Management | Jordi Gali | Spain | |
| 2024 | Economics, Finance and Management | Michael Dean Woodford | United States |
| 2024 | Humanities and Social Sciences | Icek Ajzen | Poland / United States | |
| 2024 | Humanities and Social Sciences | Dolores Albarracín | Argentina / United States | |
| 2024 | Humanities and Social Sciences | Mahzarin Banaji | India / United States | |
| 2024 | Humanities and Social Sciences | Anthony Greenwald | United States | |
| 2024 | Humanities and Social Sciences | Richard E. Petty | United States |
| 2024 | Music and Opera | Toshio Hosokawa | Japan | |

### Laureates per country

Below is a chart of all laureates per country (updated to 2023 laureates). Some laureates are counted more than once if they have multiple citizenships.
| Country | Number of laureates |
| United States | 102 |
| United Kingdom | 20 |
| France | 9 |
| Canada | 9 |
| Germany | 7 |
| Hungary | 6 |
| Spain | 6 |
| Japan | 5 |
| Austria | 4 |
| Russia | 3 |
| Italy | 3 |
| Israel | 3 |
| Sweden | 2 |
| Brazil | 1 |
| Argentina | 1 |
| Netherlands | 1 |