Kyoto Prize for Advanced Technology: Winners by Year

Award years

• 2026

  • Tsutomu Miyasaka

    Creation of Next-Generation Photovoltaic Technologies, Perovskite Solar Cells.

• 2025

  • Shun-ichi Amari

    Pioneering Contributions to Opening Up Theoretical Foundations of Artificial Intelligence and Establishment of Information Geometry.

• 2024

  • John Pendry

    Contribution of the Theoretical Construction of Metamaterials to the Field of Material Science.

• 2023

  • Ryuzo Yanagimachi

    Contributions to the Elucidation of Fertilization Mechanisms and the Establishment of Microinsemination Technology.

• 2022

  • Carver Mead

    Leading Contributions to the Establishment of the Guiding Principles for VLSI Systems Design.

• 2021

  • Andrew Yao

    Pioneering Contributions to a New Theory of Computation and Communication and a Fundamental Theory for its Security.

• 2019

  • Ching W. Tang

    Pioneering Contributions to the Birth of High-Efficiency Organic Light-Emitting Diodes and Their Applications.

• 2018

  • Karl Deisseroth

    Discovery of Optogenetics and Development of Causal Systems Neuroscience.

• 2017

  • Takashi Mimura

    Invention of the High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) and Its Development for the Progress of Information and Communications Technology.

• 2016

  • Takeo Kanade

    Pioneering Contributions, both Theoretical and Practical, to Computer Vision and Robotics.

• 2015

  • Toyoki Kunitake

    Pioneering Contributions to the Materials Sciences by Discovering Synthetic Bilayer Membranes and Creating the Field of Chemistry Based on Molecular Self-Assembly.

• 2014

  • Robert Samuel Langer

    Creation of Tissue Engineering and Drug Delivery System Technologies.

• 2013

  • Robert Heath Dennard

    Invention of Dynamic Random Access Memory and Proposal of Guidelines for FET Miniaturization.

• 2012

  • Ivan Sutherland

    Pioneering Achievements in the Development of Computer Graphics and Interactive Interfaces.

• 2011

  • John Werner Cahn

    Outstanding Contribution to Alloy Materials Engineering by the Establishment of Spinodal Decomposition Theory.

• 2010

  • Shinya Yamanaka

    Development of Technology for Generating Induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cells.

• 2009

  • Isamu Akasaki

    Pioneering Work on Gallium Nitride p-n Junctions and Related Contributions to the Development of Blue Light Emitting Devices.

• 2008

  • Richard M. Karp

    Fundamental Contributions to the Development of the Theory of Computational Complexity.

• 2007

  • Hiroo Inokuchi

    Pioneering and Fundamental Contributions to Organic Molecular Electronics.

• 2006

  • Leonard Arthur Herzenberg

    Outstanding contribution to life sciences with the development of a flow cytometer that uses fluorescent-labeled monoclonal antibodies.

• 2005

  • George H. Heilmeier

    Pioneering contributions to the realization of flat-panel displays using liquid crystals.

• 2004

  • Alan Kay

    Creation of the concept of modern personal computing and contribution to its realization.

• 2003

  • George McClelland Whitesides

    Contributions to Nanomaterials Science through the Development of Organic Molecular Self-Assembly Technique.

• 2002

  • Leroy Hood

    Contributions to life sciences through the automation of protein and DNA sequencing and synthesis.

• 2001

  • Izuo Hayashi, Morton B. Panish, Zhores I. Alferov

    A Pioneering Step in the Development of Optoelectronics through Success in Continuous Operation of Semiconductor Lasers at Room Temperature.

• 2000

  • Tony Hoare

    Pioneering and Fundamental Contributions to the Progress of Software Science.

• 1999

  • W. David Kingery

    Fundamental Contribution to Development of the Ceramics Science and Technology Based on the Physicochemical Theory.

• 1998

  • Kurt Wüthrich

    Outstanding Contribution to Biology through the Expansion of the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy to the Structure Analyses of Biological Macromolecules in Water Solution, an Environment Similar to That in the Living Cell.

• 1997

  • Federico Faggin, Marcian Edward Hoff, Jr., Masatoshi Shima, Stanley Mazor

    Development of the World’s First Microprocessor.

• 1996

  • Donald Knuth

    Outstanding Contribution to Various Fields of the Computer Science Ranging from the Art of Computer Programming to the Development of Epoch-Making Electronic Publishing Tools.

• 1995

  • George William Gray

    Fundamental Contribution to Research and Development of Liquid Crystal Materials by Establishing the Practical Molecular Design Methods.

• 1994

  • Paul C. Lauterbur

    Proposal of the Basic Principles and Outstanding Contribution to the Development of MRI that Confers a Great Benefit on Clinical Medicine.

• 1993

  • Jack S. Kilby

    Creation of the Concept of the Monolithic Semiconductor Integrated Circuit and Its Demonstration.

• 1992

  • Maurice Wilkes

    Building and Designing the First Practical Stored Program Computer and Pioneering Studies of Computer Architecture.

• 1991

  • Michael Szwarc

    Pioneering Contribution to Research and Development of Polymeric Materials by Discovering ' Living Polymerization '.

• 1990

  • Sydney Brenner

    Pioneering Contribution to Molecular Biology through Demonstration of Messenger RNA and Establishment of C. Elegans as an Experimental System for Developmental Biology.

• 1989

  • Amos E. Joel, Jr.

    Pioneering Contribution to the Electronic Switching Technology for Telecommunications, Especially that Based on the Concept of ' Stored Program Control '.

• 1988

  • John McCarthy

    Fundamental Contribution to the Field of Artificial Intelligence and the Invention of LISP, a Programming Language.

• 1987

  • Morris Cohen

    Fundamental Contribution to Development of New Materials Based on Creation of Broad and Basic Insights into the Metal Phase Transformation and Structure-Property Relationship.

• 1986

  • Nicole Marthe Le Douarin

    Outstanding Contribution to Embryology through the Development of the Technology for Making Chicken/Quail Chimeras.

• 1985

  • Rudolf Emil Kalman

    Establishment of the Modern Control Theory Based on the State Space Approach.