The award was conferred on the academician Miomir Vukobratovic, the originator and Head of the Belgrade School of Robotics and one of the internationally acclaimed founders of robotics as an individual science discipline. Academician Vukobratovic is considered one of the most cited scientists in this field in the world and is a member of a number of international science academies.
Extract from the winner’s speech:
'The award partially belongs to everyone, but it actually belongs to the School. The school was established a long time ago and is still existent. The truth of the matter is that it has been damaged, but so were we and we nevertheless function.'