Italy's head of state Sergio Mattarella, finance minister Giovanni Tria, and the president and chief executive officer of energy giant Eni, Emma Marcegalia and Claudi Descalzi on Monday attended this year's Eni Awards at the Quirinale Palace in Rome.
This year marks the 11th edition of the award, also known as the “Nobel Prize for Energy”, which has, over the years, become an internationally recognised award for outstanding research in the energy and environment sectors, underlining the importance for scientific research and innovation for Eni, the company said in a statement.
This year, the Energy Transition award was given to Omar M. Yaghi of the University of California – Berkeley, for his research on new types of material with a wide range of potential applications, ranging from methane storage for low emission level vehicles, to CO2 capture and storage, and even to capturing water from moisture in desert area atmospheres using sunlight as an energy source.
The Energy Frontiers award went to Zhong Lin Wang of the Georgia Institute of Technology for the development of electric nanogenerators capable of collecting energy from movements or vibrations from daily activities and from our environment in order to power both individual electronic devices and to generate renewable energy on a large scale from ocean waves.
The award for Advanced Environmental Solutions went to Sang Yup Lee from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) for his ground-breaking work in microbial strain production and bioprocesses for the low environmental impact production of chemical products, fuels and materials.
An Eni Award winner in 2013, Professor Francis H. Arnold of Caltech was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry this year, a testament to the Eni Awards being at the forefront of innovation.
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