A BETTER TOMORROW
Hailed as “guardians of the future”, Rolex Awards Laureates are pioneers and protectors of the planet who have the potential to reinvent the future. The five new Laureates of the Rolex Awards for Enterprise announced in 2021 are continuing this tradition, while also demonstrating Rolex’s fundamental belief in always pushing the boundaries
THE ROLEX AWARDS FOR ENTERPRISE were set up in 1976 by André J. Heiniger, then Chief Executive Officer of Rolex, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rolex Oyster, the world’s first waterproof wristwatch. Intended to be a once-only celebration, the awards drew so much international interest that Rolex transformed them into an ongoing programme that has, in the years since, supported 155 Laureates whose endeavours have made a significant contribution worldwide to improving life and protecting our planet.
The Rolex Awards are one of the three pillars of the Rolex Perpetual Planet initiative dedicated to supporting those who contribute to a better world. According to Heiniger, “We initiated the Rolex Awards for Enterprise out of a conviction that we
had a responsibility as a company to take an active interest in improving life on our planet and in the desire to foster values we cherish: quality, ingenuity, determination and, above all, a spirit of enterprise.”
The 155 women and men selected as Rolex Awards Laureates since 1976 include an extraordinary cohort of skilled pioneers, spread across a wide range of geographical locations. Laureates have featured archaeologists, architects, educators, engineers, entrepreneurs, explorers, filmmakers, geologists, medical doctors, microbiologists, mountaineers, physicists, primatologists, sociologists, veterinarians and wildlife biologists.
The tangible benefits of the Laureates’ projects are even more varied. In those directly related to the environment: 21 million trees have been planted; 34 endangered species and 27 major ecosystems protected, including 57,600-square-kilometres of Amazon rainforest; hundreds of new species have been discovered; 17 challenging expeditions have been completed; and 48 innovative technologies have been developed for a range of applications.
Viewed from a wider perspective, millions of people across the world have benefited from the Laureates’ award-winning projects over the past 46 years.
Unlike most other awards and grant programmes, The Rolex Awards are not designed to recognise past achievements – they are given for new or ongoing projects. Candidates must be aged 18 or over, and there are no academic or professional requirements, nor any restrictions on gender or nationality. Anyone, anywhere, can apply for a Rolex Award. This has allowed many people without access to traditional funding sources to gain recognition and funds.
To win a Rolex Award requires an original, visionary project that can benefit humanity and/or the planet, along with the skills and determination to implement it. The Awards are given to projects focusing on the following: the environment; science and health; applied technology; cultural heritage; and exploration – but those that do not strictly fit these particular disciplines have also won Rolex Awards.
Projects are judged on their originality and the impact they have on the world at large, as well as on the candidates’ spirit of enterprise. Five Laureates are chosen in each biennial edition of the Awards, and each of the five receives funding to implement their project and becomes a member of the network of Rolex Laureates.
More than 35,400 people have applied for Rolex Awards since the 1976 launch. A shortlist of applications is judged by an independent, interdisciplinary jury of experts. The jury changes for each series of the Awards, and typically includes conservationists, doctors, educators and innovators, explorers and scientists. Previous judges have included: Sir Edmund Hillary and Junko Tabei, the first man and first woman to ascend Mount Everest (in 1953 and 1975 respectively); global environment advocate Yolanda Kakabadse; astronaut Chris Hadfield, former Commander of the International Space Station; leading geneticist Steve Jones; and eminent oceanographer and explorer Sylvia Earle, who served in both 1981 and 2012.
Meanwhile, the five Laureates of the 2021 Rolex Awards for Enterprise are tackling some of the world’s most intractable challenges with brilliant ideas and hard work. Guiding us towards a sustainable future, their projects include: fortifying staple foods to fight malnutrition in Tanzania (Felix Brooks-church, USA); protecting the rich biodiversity in the Trans-himalaya (Rinzin Phunjok Lama, Nepal); exploring and protecting mesophotic coral reefs and their biodiversity in the Indian Ocean (Luiz Rocha, Brazil); seeking climate change clues in the planet’s northernmost caves (Gina Moseley, UK); and using indigenous knowledge to map resources to prevent climate conflict in the Sahel (Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Chad).
These individuals are not only making impactful and positive changes to our world, but also serve as an inspiration for many generations to come.