Former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, the winner of the first Tang Prize in Sustainable Development, and four other Tang Prize winners are to visit Taiwan next month to receive the awards.
Brundtland, known as the “godmother of sustainable development,” and the four others will attend the award ceremony in Taipei on Sept. 18 and other events from Sept. 15 to Sept. 21, the Tang Prize Foundation said yesterday.
The prizes were awarded in June to people who have made major contributions in four fields: sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, Sinology and rule of law.
Established in 2012 by Taiwanese entrepreneur Samuel Yin (尹衍樑), the Tang Prize aims to honor leaders in fields that it deems critical in the 21st century.
James Allison of the US and Tasuku Honjo of Japan shared the prize in biopharmaceutical science; Chinese American historian Yu Ying-shih (余英時) won the prize in Sinology; and former South African Constitutional Court justice Albie Sachs was named the winner of the prize in rule of law.
The winners will receive or share a cash prize of NT$40 million (US$1.33 million) in each category and a research grant of up to NT$10 million to be used within five years.
The award ceremony is to take place at the National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei.
On Sept. 19, the winners will speak at an event at the Taipei International Convention Center that will be attended by professionals, researchers and students, the foundation said, adding that they will also participate in forums around the nation.
Brundtland is to speak at National Sun Yat-sen University in Greater Kaohsiung on Sept. 17; Yu is to join a forum at Academia Sinica in Taipei on Sept. 20; Sachs is to give a talk at National Chung Hsing University in Greater Taichung on Sept. 20; and Allison and Honjo will speak at National Cheng Kung University in Greater Tainan on Sept. 21.
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