Körber European Science Prize

We congratulate Cordelia Schmid on receiving the Körber Prize 2023. The German computer scientist Cordelia Schmid is a pioneer in computer-aided image processing. Schmid developed revolutionary new procedures that enable computers to understand image content. Thanks to her algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI) can locate a motif or an object in a database of images within a fraction of a second. The prize winner is currently doing research on systems that can semantically interpret videos and even predict future actions. Her goals include the development of robots that will be able to respond to verbal commands and be employed, for instance, as intelligent assistants in hospitals and in care for the aged.

In 1984, our founder Kurt A. Körber established the Körber European Science Prize to honor scientific excellence in Europe. Kurt Körber’s initial idea was to support scientists in the realisation of forward-looking ideas. Only projects that promised "a significant contribution to the improvement of living conditions on our planet" were to be honored. For almost forty years now, the Search Committees and the Trustee Committee have sought to live up to this claim when selecting Körber Prize winners.

With the Körber Prize, Kurt A. Körber also pursued a political objective. When the prize was established in the 1980s, one of its aims was to use science to make the then still existing Iron Curtain between Eastern and Western Europe more permeable. In the first few years, the prize was awarded to research groups, but since 2005 it has been awarded to outstanding individuals conducting research at a European institution.

We are convinced that investing in fundamental research in Europe is more important than ever to keep up with the global competition for the best minds and ideas.