ENI award
The ENI Award is a prize awarded by the Italian oil and gas company ENI with the aim of encouraging better use of energy sources and increased environmental research. The strict award guidelines and the notable names on the selection committee make ENI a coveted award. List of ENI award winners include Nobel laureates like Harold W. Kroto and Alan Heeger.
Some websites and magazines have called the ENI award the "Nobel prize of energy research". The scientific committee of the ENI award includes representatives from Stanford University, MIT, Cambridge, University of Stuttgart, Florida State University, University of Pisa, University of Texas at Austin, and others. The annual ENI award was launched in July 2007, foreseen by the group’s Technological Master Plan. The ENI award extends and replaces the Eni-Italgas Prize, previously known as the Italgas Prize, which in 2006 had reached its XIX edition.
Award selection
The award’s Scientific Committee – which has the role of evaluating the candidates and assigning the prizes, is of the highest level and comprises researchers and scientists from some of the world’s most advanced research institutes, and includes the Nobel prize-winner Sir Harold Kroto.In subsequent years 63 researchers, from 10 countries, have been awarded: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the United States of America. Included in the number are three Nobel prize-winners. More than 800 researchers from around the world have submitted their research projects, to which should be added the numerous personalities who have guaranteed or been a part of the various evaluation commissions.
The distinguished representatives of the international scientific community who have received the ENI award in the past include Sir Harold W. Kroto, Nobel Prize winner in 1996 for Chemistry and now member of the Eni Award Scientific Commission; Alan Hegger, Nobel Prize 2000 for Chemistry; and Theodor Wolfgang Haensch, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize for Physics.
2008 recipients
- The Research and Environment prize was awarded to the American scientist J. Craig Venter, one of the most important living geneticists who, in 2000, announced that he was the first to have complete a map of the human genome. The prize was awarded for late 2007 research paper, published in the journal Science, in which he created a synthetic chromosome in the laboratory while working on the DNA of bacteria. Venter's results are a fundamental step towards synthetic genes, which promise an unlimited range of revolutionary applications in the energy and environmental fields, such as new processes for the sequestration of CO2 or the regeneration of polluted environments. In terms of energy, this research opens the road to the design of new metabolic paths for the production of innovative biofuels from organic materials.
- The Science and Technology prize was awarded ex aequo to Arthur J. Nozik and Stefan W. Glunz, both active in the field of the conversion of solar energy using photovoltaic technology.
- The two Research Debut prizes have been awarded to the young researchers Silvia Cereda and Gian Luca Chiarello for research that promises interesting developments in the field of energy production.
2009 recipients
- The New Frontiers in Hydrocarbons award was assigned "ex aequo" to Alan G. Marshall and Tony Settari, an expert in reservoir engineering and computerized simulations of oil reservoirs, as well as in geochemical processes and basin fracture analysis. It is awarded for research into the exploration, advanced recovery, development, refinement, transportation and distribution of oil and natural gas.
- The Renewable and Non-Conventional Energy award was given to Martin Green. It is presented for advanced R&D results in renewable and non-conventional energy sources.
- The Protection of the Environment award was awarded to Gérard Férey. It is presented for outstanding research and innovation in areas concerning the environmental impact of human activities, specifically protection and restoration of the environment, with a special focus on research and innovative technologies to eliminate local pollutants and CO2 to improve environmental conditions.
- The two Research Debut awards, given to young scholars to promote research in Italy, have been assigned to Alberto Cuoci and Loredana De Rogatis. They cover the same areas as the three international awards: research and technological innovation in hydrocarbons, renewable and non-conventional energy, and protection and restoration of the environment.
2010 recipients
- The New Frontiers of Hydrocarbons Prize was assigned "ex aequo" to Avelino Corma, The Instituto De tecnologia Quimica Upv-Csic, for his important discoveries about the synthesis of new catalysts to improve the refinement of the heaviest oil fractions and to Mark Knackstedt, Australian National University, for his pioneering research into the location and characteristics of oil-fields, grounded on high resolution and 3D images of rock structures.
- The Renewable and Non-Conventional Energy Prize was assigned to Angela Belcher, MIT, for her innovative and fundamental research project on the principles of development of the natural systems that can reconvert and use energy.
- The Protection of the Environment Prize was awarded to François Morel, Princeton University, for his important discovery of a new class of enzymes that plays a crucial role in CO2 transport and fixation.
- The Debut in Research Prizes were awarded to Lorenzo Fagiano, Polytechnic University of Turin, for a dissertation that represents an important ad innovative contribution on high altitude wind power generation and that includes theoretical analyses, systems planning, simulations and economic analyses; and to Matteo Mauro for a research project on high-efficiency energy devices with a strong potential for application to light-emitting systems with low energy loss, based on innovative electroluminescent components.
2011 recipients
- the New Frontiers of Hydrocarbons Prize was shared ex aequo between two outstanding scientists, Professor Gabor A. Somorjai from University of California and Professor Martin Landrø from Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Professor Somorjai won the Prize for his excellent work on the cracking process, while professor Landrø was awarded for his advanced "4D" seismic analysis technique. This was the last year, for the Eni Award, of a single New Frontiers of Hydrocarbons Prize: the following 2012 Edition presented two different Prizes, aimed to the Downstream and Upstream sectors.
- The Renewable and Non-Conventional Energy Prize was given to Professor Gregory Stephanopoulos from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for his research on the bacterial genetic structure, with the aim of converting raw materials into hydrocarbons.
- The Protection of the Environment Prize was assigned to Professor Jean-Marie Tarascon from the University of Picardie "Jules Verne", for his outstanding research in the lithium-ion battery sector, aimed to produce safer batteries with lower costs and environmental impact.
- The two Debut in Research Prizes were awarded to Dr. Simone Gamba from the Politecnico di Milano, for his PhD Thesis on the hydrocracking process, and to Dr. Fabrizio Frontalini from the University of Urbino "Carlo Bo", for his PhD Thesis concerning the use of benthic foraminifera as biomarkers for the monitoring of pollution.2012 recipients
2012 recipients
Fabio Rocca
received the Eni award for "new frontiers of hydrocarbons" for a new "methodology may be able to improve the exploitation of the reserves, identifying the most promising areas for possible optimisation, providing more oil for the same work, always in full compliance with safety and environmental standards." He is currently a professor emeritus of telecommunications at the Politecnico di Milano.Alessandro Ferretti
received the Eni award for "new frontiers of hydrocarbons" together with his colleague Fabio Rocca.He currently is the chairman of the board of the spinoff-company Tele-Rilevamento Europa, that he has co-founded out of the Politecnico di Milano.
Enrique Iglesia
received the Eni award for "new frontiers of hydrocarbons" for "a more effective catalyst is able to efficiently transform raw materials, reducing waste and using less energy. Consequently, a better use of resources, less energy consumption and a lower environmental impact across the entire process." He is the Theodore Vermeulen professor at the University of California at Berkeley.Harry A. Atwater
received the "renewables and non-conventional energy prize" for his research to "optimise the production of solar energy by reducing costs, thereby helping to spread the use of renewable sources that has so far been economically inaccessible."He is a professor in applied physics and material sciences at the California Institute of Technology, serves as director of the DOE Energy Frontier Research Center on Light-Matter Interactions in Solar Energy Conversion and is also director of the Resnick Institute for Science, Energy and Sustainability.
Albert Polman
received the "renewables and non-conventional energy prize" together with Harry A. Atwater.He is a group leader and director of the FOM Institute AMOLF in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and has been one of the pioneers of the research area of nanophotonics.
Barbara Sherwood Lollar
received the "environmental protection prize" for the "application of stable isotope geochemistry for the research and protection of groundwater resources and the environment contributes to cleaning up the environment and the world’s water resources". She is a professor in geology at the University of Toronto, director of the stable isotope laboratory and Canada research chair in isotopes of the earth and environment.Silvia Comba
Silvia Comba received an Eni award for "debut in research" for her work on iron as "the solution to the problem of the pollution of aquifers." At present, Silvia holds a Research Grant in the group “Chemical Reaction Engineering for Energy and Environment” at the Department of Applied Science and Technology of the Politecnico di Torino.Jijeesh Ravi Nair
Jijeesh Ravi Nair received an Eni award for "debut in research" for his work on "electricity storage from renewable sources, through the improvement of lithium batteries, and always with the aim of reducing possible environmental impact." He is working as a post-doctoral researcher at the Politecnico di Torino.In 2010, he won the Oronzio and Niccolo' De Nora Foundation Prize for his Ph.D. thesis, awarded by the Italian Chemical Society.