The Körber European Science Prize is awarded annually to European scientists whose research lead to extraordinary developments in the fields of life and physical sciences. The prize of 750,000 EUR is referred to by experts as the “small Nobel Prize”: several winners of the Körber Prize later went on to win the Nobel Prize.
The Hamburg-based Körber Foundation has been awarding the prize since 1985. Every year, around 600 guests from politics, science and industries attend the ceremonies at Hamburg City Hall.
In September 2023, Cordelia Schmid was awarded the Körber European Science Prize, worth 1 million euros. Schmid is honoured for her achievements in the field of AI-assisted image processing. Her algorithms enable AI to find items in databases containing millions of images in fractions of a second.