Since 1976, through the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, Rolex has supported exceptional individuals who have the courage and conviction to take on major challenges; men and women who have a spirit of enterprise, initiating extraordinary projects that make the world a better place. Each winner receives 100,000 Swiss francs (about $104,000).

In 2010, the Rolex Awards introduced a programme for Young Laureates. Its goal was to foster innovation in the next generation by selecting five young enterprising individuals and providing them with funding and publicity for their projects. Each Young Laureate receives 50,000 Swiss francs (about $52,000).

Recipients

Pre-2000 
 1998: Tomas Diagne
 1996: Georgina Herrmann
 1990: John F. Asmus, for pioneering use of lasers in art preservation
 1981: Delia Owens and Mark Owens

The following are the Rolex Award winners since 2000.

2000

Laureates 
 Elizabeth Nicholls, Canada. Extract the fossilized remains of a 220 million-year-old marine fossil.
 Mohammed Bah Abba, Nigeria. Supply an innovative food cooling system to impoverished Nigerians.
 Maria Eliza Manteca Oñate, Ecuador. Promote sustainable farming in the Andes.
 Laurent Pordié, France. Promote Tibetan medicine to communities in Ladakh.
 David Schweidenback, United States. Redistribute used bicycles to developing countries.

Associate Laureates 
 Luc-Henri Fage, France. Save ancient cave paintings in the caves of eastern Kalimantan, Borneo.
 Bernard Francou, France. Study a glacier to find the key to El Niño and global warming.
 Anabel Ford, United States. Re-establish Maya “forest gardens” as a model for conservation.
 Rohan Pethiyagoda, Sri Lanka. Protect Sri Lanka's biodiversity by reclaiming tracts of land to support endangered species.
 Reuven Yosef, Israel. Establish a sanctuary along the world's greatest migratory bird highway

2002

Laureates 
 Michel André, France. Create a system to protect whales from collisions with ships.
 José Márcio Ayres, Brazil. Combine the protection of the Amazon forest with the human need for sustainable income.
 Dave Irvine-Halliday, Canada. Supply low-cost LED lighting systems to people in developing countries with no electricity supply.
 Lindy Rodwell, South Africa. Create a pan-African network to protect blue and wattled cranes. 
 Gordon H. Sato, United States. Foster the mangrove tree as the basis of sustainable development in Eritrea.

2004

Laureates 
 Lonnie Dupre, United States. Raise awareness of global warming through an Arctic crossing.
 Claudia Feh, Switzerland. Reintroduce the endangered Przewalski horses to their native habitat in Mongolia and improve life for the local nomadic people.
 David Lordkipanidze, Georgia. Transform thought on human evolution through archaeological discoveries.
 Teresa Manera Argentina. Save a unique collection of prehistoric animal footprints.
 Kikuo Morimoto, Japan. Revive silk production in war-ravaged Cambodia.

2006

Laureates 
 Alexandra Lavrillier, Siberia. Establish a travelling school to revive a vanishing culture.
 Brad Norman, Australia. Create a system of identification to protect the whale shark.
 Pilai Poonswad, Thailand. Save threatened hornbills and their habitat in Thailand.
 Chanda Shroff, India. Revive traditional hand embroidery to create a sustainable income for women.
 Rory Wilson, United Kingdom. Use mobile technology to track how wild animals use energy.

Associate Laureates 
 Cristian Donoso, Patagonia. Gather vital new knowledge about the little-known western Patagonia region.
 Zenón Gomel Apaza, Peru. Transform Andean communities through traditional agriculture.
 Shafqat Hussain, Pakistan. Develop a livestock insurance and ecotourism in Pakistan.
 Runa Khan, Bangladesh. Develop a “living museum” of traditional boats to preserve this national craft.
 Julien Meyer, France. Revive whistled and drummed languages from remote areas.

2008

Laureates 
 Talal Akasheh]], Jordan. Help conserve ancient Petra from the ravages of time and tourism.
 Tim Bauer, The Philippines. Reduce pollution from motorized tricycles in Asian cities.
 Andrew McGonigle]], Italy. Develop a way to predict volcanic eruptions using a remote-controlled helicopter.
 Andrew Muir, South Africa. Provide training and jobs to young people orphaned by AIDS.
 Elsa Zaldívar, Paraguay. Combine loofah and plastic waste to make low-cost housing.

Associate Laureates 
 Alexis Belonio, The Philippines. Turn rice husks into cheap, clean energy for cooking.
 Arthur González, Mexico. Explore submerged caves to discover and study remains from the Ice Age.
 Rodrigo Medellín, Mexico. Save endangered bats through protection and education.
 Moji Riba, India. Safeguard the heritage of the people of Arunachal Pradesh.
 Romulus Whitaker, United Kingdom/India. Establish a network of rainforest research stations across India.

2010

Young Laureates 
 Jacob Colker, United States, Enable smartphone users to become volunteers by donating spare minutes to charitable, scientific and community organizations.
 Reese Fernandez, The Philippines, Help impoverished women earn a decent wage by upcycling waste, turning it into high-value “eco-ethical, elegant” products.
 Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, Nigeria,Improve the lives of farmers in Nigeria through the development of an interactive, rural radio service.
 Piyush Tewari, India, Train a network of police officers and volunteers to provide rapid medical care to road accident victims in Delhi.
 Bruktawit Tigabu, Ethiopia, Tackle the high child mortality rate in Ethiopia through a television series designed to teach children about health.

2012

Laureates 
 Sergei Bereznuk, Russian Federation. Protect the last of the Siberian tigers in Russia's Far East.
 Barbara Block, United States. Track marine predators, such as tuna, and protect the oceans.
 Erika Cuéllar, Bolivia. Train local people in the Chaco region of South America to protect the biodiversity of this environment.
 Mark Kendall, Australia. Revolutionize vaccinations with a needle-free Nanopatch to save millions of lives.
 Aggrey Otieno, Kenya. Build a telemedicine centre in a slum to save the lives of mothers and babies.

Young Laureates 
 Karina Atkinson, United Kingdom. Foster research and responsible tourism in a bio-diversity hotspot.
 Selene Biffi, Italy. Revive traditional storytelling to craft a new narrative for Afghanistan.
 Maritza Morales Casanova, Mexico. Build a park for environmental education in the Yucatán.
 Sumit Dagar, India. Develop a Braille smartphone to improve life for India's blind people.
 Arun Krishnamurthy, India. Restore urban lakes in India

2014

Young Laureates
 Neeti Kailas, India, Develop a system to carry out mass screenings of newborns in resource-poor settings to monitor hearing loss.
 Olivier Nsengimana, Rwanda, Save Rwanda's Grey Crowned Crane, which faces increasing threats, in order to conserve the country's biodiversity.
 Francesco Sauro, Italy, Lead a team to explore ancient caves in table-top mountains between Venezuela and Brazil and uncover the secrets of the planet's evolution.
 Arthur Zang, Cameroon, Invent Africa's first medical computer tablet to help diagnose people with heart disease.
 Hosam Zowawi, Saudi Arabia, Develop faster laboratory tests for superbugs and raise awareness of antibiotic resistance in the Gulf States through an education campaign.

2016

Laureates 
 Andrew Bastawrous, Ireland. Transform eye care in sub-Saharan Africa using a smartphone-based, portable eye examination kit.
 Sonam Wangchuk, India. Assist farmers in Ladakh, the arid Himalayan highlands in India to overcome water shortages by tapping meltwaters to build artificial glaciers.
 Vreni Häussermann, Chile. Explore Chilean Patagonia's remote fjords to document unknown life at the bottom of the sea.
 Kerstin Forsberg, Peru. Protect threatened giant manta rays by working with local communities to promote awareness and appreciation of these gentle giants.
 Conor Walsh, Australia. Revolutionize how patients worldwide recover from traumas such as stroke and learn to walk again by marrying textile science with robotics.

Young Laureates 
 Joseph Cook, United Kingdom. Explore and communicate how polar ice micro-organisms help shape our world.
 Oscar Ekponimo, Nigeria. Minimize food waste through an application that manages the end of shelf life, allowing food to be sold at a discount.
 Christine Keung, United States. Empower rural women to tackle rural pollution in northwest China with a system for disposing of toxic waste.
 Junto Ohki, Japan. Improve communication among deaf people by expanding a crowdsourced, online sign-language dictionary that will become a global platform.
 Sarah Toumi, Tunisia. Fight desertification caused by climate change and reduce poverty among farmers through reforestation.

See also
 Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, a sister project

References

External links
 
 

Business and industry awards
Appropriate technology advocates
Rolex
Invention awards
Awards established in 1976