2023 Prototypes for Humanity Announce Winners of
$100,000 Prize at COP28
Students with world-changing ideas, from Princeton and Oxford to
Quito and Seoul win prize supporting innovation in critical areas
UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 1.30PM GST 3rd December 2023
● The world of academic ingenuity and entrepreneurship came together in a series of events in the
week of COP28’s opening, focused on innovation-backed solutions that can accelerate real change.
● A prize of $100,000 has been awarded at COP28 across five priority areas of this year’s COP agenda:
‘Nature, Food and Water Systems’, ‘Health, Relief and Safety’, ‘Energy, Efficiency and Waste’,
‘Education, Equality and Communities’ and ‘Data Science and AI-Enabled Solutions’.
● Projects spotlight the role of academic innovation in creating the technologies necessary to achieve
COP28 commitments, from emissions to emergency-response and government transparency.
UK, London, 3rd December 2023: Engaging university talent across all fields of natural sciences,
humanities, and technology from around the globe, the 2023 edition of ‘Prototypes for Humanity’
successfully concluded its week of events engaging the bright minds behind 100 pioneering
inventions to solve environmental and social problems. The culmination of the 2023 edition took
place on Saturday 2 December at COP28 where $100,000 cash award was distributed among the
five best projects selected by an international jury.
The five winning projects in the Prototypes for Humanity Awards 2023 are (i) a synthetic yeast to
enhance sustainable production of food and biofuels, (ii) a medicine-injection device optimised
for emergency disaster scenarios, (iii) bioplastics made from invasive weed supporting local
communities, (iv) a satellite monitoring tool to prevent negligence-caused disasters and (v) AI to
detect suspicious activity in public procurement processes.