2026 NI Prize
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The Northwestern Innovation Prize for Human-Machine Partnership (NI Prize) is the premier international award recognizing transformative breakthroughs in innovation made possible through human–machine partnership. It honors achievements born from the powerful synergy between human creativity and purpose-built machines that decisively extends what humans can discover, design, or understand on their own.
The launch of this award marks a turning point in how innovation is understood and recognized. Over the past fifty years, nearly every major scientific and technological leap—from detecting gravitational waves to sequencing the human genome to predicting protein structures—has relied on machines operating at levels of accuracy, scale, and speed that humans cannot achieve independently. The NI Prize celebrates individuals and teams whose pioneering human–machine collaborations have addressed society’s most pressing challenges and delivered profound benefits to humanity.
The NI Prize builds on the NI Institute's long-term research agenda on the science of science and innovation, which combines human and machine intelligence to measure, understand, and predict innovation. This research provides a foundation for recognizing transformative human-machine partnerships driving discovery.
The NI Prize welcomes candidates from any field where human–machine collaboration has driven transformative progress. Whether in science, medicine, engineering, the arts, public policy or other disciplines, the prize recognizes work that has fundamentally changed how we understand the world or address critical challenges facing society.
The potential for human–machine partnerships to address global challenges has never been greater. The NI Prize seeks not only to celebrate groundbreaking achievements but also to inspire future innovators to explore what becomes possible when human insight guides machine power toward the benefit of all.
The vision behind the NI Prize is described in more depth in Dashun Wang’s Nature article, “Prizes Must Recognize Machine Contributions to Discovery.”
Key dates
Nomination deadline: March 15, 2026 – 11:59 PM CT
NI Symposium & Award Ceremony: Fall 2026, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Eligibility
- Affiliation: Candidates may be from universities, national laboratories, nonprofits, industry, or other institutions.
- Discipline: All fields are eligible.
- Global reach: Candidates from any country are welcome.
- Individuals or teams: Nominations may be submitted for individuals or for collaborative teams.
- Human recipients: The prize is awarded to people, who receive the award on behalf of the human-machine partnerships they have forged.
- Candidates must be at least 18 years old.
- All laureates must attend the Award Ceremony in Fall 2026. For team awards, at least one member of the team must attend.
Nomination requirements
All nominations must be submitted through the NI Prize online portal by 11:59 PM U.S. CT on March 15, 2026. A complete nomination includes:
- Online nomination form.
- Nomination letter on letterhead describing the human-machine partnership, the insight or discovery it enabled, and its significance.
- Two letters of support on letterhead from experts familiar with the work.
- Curriculum vitae for the nominee, or, in the case of team nominations, the team’s primary contact.
- Brief description of the achievement, in language accessible to a broad scientific audience (up to 250 words).
- Optional supporting materials: Links to relevant materials such as artifacts, datasets, demonstration videos, or other supporting documentation.
Selection criteria
- Human insight and leadership
- Central and enabling role of the machine
- Quality and credibility of evidence
- Transformative impact and field-shaping potential
Frequently asked questions
The achievement I’d like to recognize was developed by a team of people. Can I nominate all of them?
Yes, nominations may recognize an individual or a team. For team nominations, a single submission should be made on behalf of the entire group, and all members will be considered jointly for the award. If a team is selected, the NI Prize will be presented to the team collectively.
I want to nominate a team that includes more than 10 people. Can I list all members of the team?
Please list only 10 members of the team in your nomination form. Additional contributors may be acknowledged in the nomination letter.
Can I nominate myself or my team?
No, self-nominations will not be accepted.
Can I nominate more than one individual or team?
No, each nominator may submit only one nomination, either for an individual or a team.
Is any human-machine partnership eligible for the NI Prize?
No, the NI prize specifically recognizes scientific achievements for which the core insight or discovery was possible only because of a purpose-built machine that extended human capabilities in a decisive way. For more context, please see Dashun Wang’s Nature article, “Prizes Must Recognize Machine Contributions to Discovery.”
Can I mail or email my nomination form to the NI Institute?
No, please submit your nomination through the online nomination submission system.
Is there a limit to the length of my nomination letter or the letters of support?
No. Most letters are expected to be approximately 2-5 pages, but there is no formal limit.
What if my project involves proprietary or IP-protected systems?
For proprietary systems, the two required support letters should confirm the system’s performance or integrity. Nominators may also provide a redacted high-level methods summary as part of the optional supporting materials.
Can the letters be written in a language other than English?
No, all nominations must be written in English.
I missed the deadline for nominations. Can I submit my nomination late?
No, late nominations will not be accepted.
What is the conflict of interest and confidentiality policy for the NI Prize?
The NI Prize follows established best practices to ensure fairness, integrity, and confidentiality throughout the selection process. Potential conflicts of interest are managed through appropriate disclosure and recusal practices, and the selection process is conducted in a manner that preserves independence and impartiality. All nomination materials and committee deliberations are treated as confidential, and only the name of the recipient or recipients is made public.
Other questions? Please contact us at nii-prize@kellogg.northwestern.edu.