THE NEW SHAPE PRIZE

SWEDEN

WHO: László Szombatfalvy, investor and financial analyst

WHAT: The New Shape Prize is about tangible change: it awards US$1.8 million in prize money for the best idea to create a new international decision-making system capable of tackling the world’s most challenging issues, from extreme poverty to the spread of nuclear weapons to growing environmental damage.

Businessman László Szombatfalvy, who made his fortune in the stock market before retiring to focus on philanthropy, was inspired to set up the New Shape Prize by his own upbringing: in 1956 he fled from Hungary to Sweden as a refugee. In 2012 he established the Global Challenge Foundation, the organisation behind the prize, to find new, innovative ways of tackling the most serious challenges faced by humanity. Four years later the New Shape Prize was born. The biggest competition of its kind, the prize is awarded each November, with the foundation committed to supporting the winning ideas from proposal towards implementation, ensuring ideas come to life.