The Nikkei Asia Prize (Japanese: 日経アジア賞) is an award which recognizes the achievements of people and organizations that have improved the lives of people throughout

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. The awards were created and presented by

Nikkei Inc Nikkei can refer to: *, abbreviated , Nikkei, a large media corporation in Japan *, abbreviated , Nikkei, a major business newspaper published in Japan *, a Japanese stock market index, published by ''Nihon Keizai Shimbun'' *, often simply ''Nikkei ...

, one of the largest media corporations in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Launched in 1996, the program honors people in Asia who have made significant contributions in one of the three areas: regional growth; science, technology and innovation; and culture. The category for regional growth (Economic and Business Innovation) is designed to recognize business and economic initiatives that improve living standards and stability in their regions. This could be entrepreneurs who have successfully developed industries and businesses due to innovation. The category for science, technology and environment was established to recognize scientific researches and technological innovations in various fields. The category for Culture is designed to recognize people who have made a difference in their countries and Asia through cultural, artistic or educational activities.Nikkei website, Guidelines for nominations
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Winners

Economic and Business Innovation (formerly Regional Growth)

* 1996: Dr. Widjojo Nitisastro * 1997: Dr.

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...

* 1998: Mr. Ni Runfeng * 1999: Mr.

Shi Wen-long Shi Wen-long or Hsu Wen-lung (; born 1928, Tainan Prefecture, Japanese-era Taiwan) is a Taiwanese businessman and the founder of Chi Mei Corporation, the largest maker of ABS resin in the world. He has been ranked among Forbes' World's Riches ...

* 2000: Dr.

Supachai Panitchpakdi Supachai Panitchpakdi ( th, ศุภชัย พานิชภักดิ์, , ; born 30 May 1946 in Bangkok, Thailand) is a Thai politician and professor. He was Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) from ...

* 2001: Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy * 2002: Dr.

Võ Tòng Xuân Dr. Võ Tòng Xuân (born 6 September 1940) is former Provost of Tân Tạo University (TTU), the former rector of An Giang University (AGU) and the former vice rector of Can Tho University. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ro ...

* 2003: Mr. Lee Hun-jai * 2004: Dr.

Muhammad Yunus Muhammad Yunus (born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, economist and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance ...

* 2005: Dr.

Morris Chang Morris Chang (; born 10 July 1931), is a Taiwanese-American businessman who built his career in the United States and subsequently in Taiwan. He is the founder, as well as former chairman and CEO, of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (T ...

* 2006: Ms.

Olivia Lum Olivia Lum Ooi Lin is a Singaporean businesswoman. She is best known for being the founder, group chief executive officer, and president of the Singapore-based Hyflux Group. She also heads the Research and Development function. Early life L ...

* 2007: Mr.

Mechai Viravaidya Mechai Viravaidya (born 17 January 1941, th, มีชัย วีระไวทยะ; ) is a former politician and activist in Thailand who promoted condoms, family planning and AIDS awareness in Thailand. Since the 1970s, Mechai has been ...

* 2008: Center of Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims in China at

China University of Political Science and Law China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 中国政法大学; Traditional Chinese characters, traditional Chinese: 中國政法大學; pinyin: ''Zhōngguó Zhèngfǎ Dàxué'', abbr. � ...

* 2009: Ms.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (born 23 March 1953) is an Indian billionaire entrepreneur. She is the executive chairperson and founder of Biocon Limited and Biocon Biologics Limited, a biotechnology company based in Bangalore, India and the former cha ...

* 2010: Mr.

Tony Fernandes Anthony Francis Fernandes (born 30 April 1964) is a Malaysian entrepreneur. He is the founder of Tune Air Sdn. Bhd., which took over the first Malaysian budget airline, AirAsia. Fernandes turned AirAsia, a failing government-linked commer ...

* 2011: Mr.

Antonio Meloto Antonio "Tony" Meloto (born January 17, 1950) is the founder of Gawad Kalinga, a Philippine-based poverty alleviation movement. Meloto was named 2006 "Filipino of the Year" by the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Early life and career Antonio Meloto w ...

* 2012: Mr. Yang Yong * 2013: Mr. Truong Gia Binh * 2014: Dr.

Devi Prasad Shetty Devi Prasad Shetty FRCS (born 8 May 1953) is an Indian entrepreneur and cardiac surgeon who is the chairman and founder of Narayana Health, a chain of 21 medical centers in India. He has performed more than 16,000 heart operations. In 2004 he w ...

* 2015: Ms.

Mai Kieu Lien Mai Kieu Lien (born 1. September 1953 in Paris, France) is a Vietnamese businesswoman and currently Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vinamilk. She studied in the Soviet Union and has been working for Vinamilk since returning to Vietnam in 1976, ho ...

* 2016:

Akshaya Patra Foundation The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a non-profit trust of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), located in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The organisation operates the Midday Meal Scheme (a school lunch programme) in India. Mi ...

* 2017: Mr.

Nandan Nilekani Nandan Mohanrao Nilekani (born 2 June 1955) is an Indian entrepreneur. He co-founded Infosys and is the non-executive chairman of Infosys replacing R Seshasayee and Ravi Venkatesan, who were the co-chairs of the board, on 24 August 2017. After t ...

* 2018: Mr. Ma Jun * 2019: Mr.

Nadiem Makarim Nadiem Anwar Makarim (born 4 July 1984) is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the current minister of education, culture, research, and technology of Indonesia. Prior to entering politics, in 2010, he founded Gojek, Indonesia's f ...

Science, Technology and Environment

* 1996: Prof.

Yuan Longping Yuan Longping (; September 7, 1930May 22, 2021) was a Chinese agronomist and member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering known for developing the first hybrid rice varieties in the 1970s, part of the Green Revolution in agriculture. For his ...

* 1997: Dr. Hyung Sup Choi * 1998: Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia (RRIM) * 1999: Prof. Zhao Qiguo * 2000:

Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (Singapore) The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is a Statutory boards of the Singapore Government, statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry (Singapore), Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore. The agency support ...

* 2001: Dr. Ho-Wang Lee * 2002: Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine,

University of Malaya The University of Malaya ( ms, Universiti Malaya, UM; abbreviated as UM or informally the Malayan University) is a public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest and highest ranking Malaysian institution of highe ...

* 2003: Dr.

Yang Huanming Yang Huanming (; born 6 October 1952), also known as Henry Yang, is a Chinese biologist, businessman and one of China's leading genetics researchers. He is Chairman and co-founder of the Beijing Genomics Institute, formerly of the Chinese Acade ...

* 2004: Dr. Yongyuth Yuthavong * 2005: Prof. Ko Myoung Sam * 2006: Mr.

Philip Yeo Noel Philip Yeo Liat Kok (Chinese: 杨烈国; born 1946), DUNU (First Class), is the Chairman oEconomic Development Innovations SingaporeAdvanced MedTech HoldingsanAccuron Technologies From April 2007 to March 2018, Yeo was Chairman of Standard ...

* 2007: Mr. Chang Chun-yen * 2008: Dr. C.N.R. Rao * 2009:

Forest Research Institute Malaysia The Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM; Malay: ''Institut Penyelidikan Perhutanan Malaysia'') is a statutory agency of the Government of Malaysia, under the Ministry of Land, Water and Natural Resources (KATS). FRIM promotes sustainab ...

(FRIM) * 2010: Dr. Ding-Shinn Chen * 2011: Dr. Maw-Kuen Wu * 2012: Dr.

Chi-Huey Wong Chi-Huey Wong is a Taiwanese-American biochemist. He is currently the Scripps Family Chair Professor at the Scripps Research Institute, California in the Department of Chemistry. He is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, ...

* 2013: Mr. Tejraj Aminabhav * 2014: Dr.

George F. Gao Gao Fu (; born 15 November 1961), also known as George Fu Gao, is a Chinese virologist and immunologist. He has served as Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention from August 2017 to July 2022 and Dean of the Sava ...

* 2015: Dr.

Wang Yifang Wang Yifang (; born February 1963 in Jiangsu) is a Chinese particle and accelerator physicist. He is director of the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and known for contributions to neutrino ph ...

* 2016: Dr. Jiang Lei * 2017: Dr. Michael M. C. Lai * 2018: Prof. Nguyen Thanh Liem * 2019: Dr. Liao I-chiu * 2020: Prof.

Thalappil Pradeep Thalappil Pradeep is an institute professor and professor of chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He is also the Deepak Parekh Chair Professor. In 2020 he received the Padma Shri award for his ...

Culture and Community

* 1996: Dara Kanlaya * 1997:

José Maceda José Montserrat Maceda (31 January 1917 – 5 May 2004) was a Filipino ethnomusicologist and composer. He was named a National Artist of the Philippines for Music in 1998. Life Born in Manila, Philippines, he studied piano, composition ...

* 1998: Kim Jeong Ok * 1999: Dang Nhat Minh * 2000: Dr.

Pinyo Suwankiri file:ภิญโญ สุวรรณคีรี Pinyo Suwankiri.jpg, Suwankiri in 2020 Pinyo Suwankiri ( th, ภิญโญ สุวรรณคีรี; born 10 March 1937) is an architect born in Songkhla Province, Songkhla, Thailand. Suw ...

* 2001: The Nepal Bhasa Dictionary Committee * 2002:

Christine Hakim Herlina Christine Natalia Hakim (born 25 December 1956) is an Indonesian actress, film producer, and activist. Born to a devout Muslim family of a mixed-race background in Jambi, she grew up in Yogyakarta, aspiring to be an architect or psyc ...

* 2003:

Urvashi Butalia Urvashi Butalia (born 1952) is an Indian feminist writer, publisher and activist. She is known for her work in the women's movement of India, as well as for authoring books such as ''The Other Side of Silence: Voices from and the Partition of I ...

* 2004: Albert Wendt * 2005: Guo Dalie * 2006:

Sophiline Cheam Shapiro Sophiline Cheam Shapiro ( km, ឝភីរោ ជាម សុភិលីន; born 1967) is a Cambodian dancer, choreographer, and educator. Early life At the age of eight, Shapiro was forced to live in the countryside of Cambodia after her fam ...

* 2007: Gopal Venu * 2008:

Ahn Sung-ki Ahn Sung-ki (born January 1, 1952) is a South Korean actor. One of the country's most respected actors, he has appeared in more than 130 films during his career of over 60 years. Career A native of Seoul, Ahn was the son of a veteran filmmaker ...

* 2009: Dr. Laretna T. Adishakti * 2010: Manteb Soedharsono * 2011:

Bảo Ninh Hoàng Ấu Phương, also known by the pen name Bảo Ninh (born 18 October 1952), is a Vietnamese novelist, essayist and writer of short stories, best known for his first novel, published in English as ''The Sorrow of War''. Vietnam war Ninh r ...

* 2012: Sybil Wettasinghe * 2013:

Vann Molyvann Vann Molyvann ( km, វណ្ណ ម៉ូលីវណ្ណ; 23 November 1926 – 28 September 2017) was a Cambodian architect. During the Sangkum Reastr Niyum regime (1955–1970), Prince Norodom Sihanouk enacted a development policy encompass ...

* 2014:

Mae Fah Luang Foundation The Mae Fah Luang Foundation ( th, มูลนิธิแม่ฟ้าหลวง; ) (MFLF) is a private, non‐profit organization established to improve the quality of life of people in poverty and deprived of opportunities. It manages nu ...

* 2015:

Asian Youth Orchestra The Asian Youth Orchestra (AYO) is a youth orchestra composed of musicians from several Asian countries. It was founded by Yehudi Menuhin and Richard Pontzious in 1987, and its first concert took place in August 1990, conducted by Menuhin. Current ...

* 2016: Dogmid Sosorbaram * 2017:

Edhi Foundation The Edhi Foundation ( ur, ) is a non-profit social welfare organization based in Pakistan. It was founded by Abdul Sattar Edhi in 1951, who served as the head of the organization until his death on 8 July 2016. Bilquis Edhi, a nurse by professi ...

* 2018: Dr.

Bindeshwar Pathak Bindeshwar Pathak is an Indian sociologist and social entrepreneur. He is the founder of Sulabh International, an India-based social service organisation which works to promote human rights, environmental sanitation, non-conventional sources ...

* 2019: Cinemalaya Foundation Inc.

References

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External links and sources