HANOI, May 12 (Xinhua) -- With his research on new carbon materials, Dr. Zhu Yanwu from China's University of Science and Technology has been awarded the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education 2017.

Dr. Zhu won the annual science prize after beating other 16 nominees from APEC member economies, the largest number of participants to date, Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA reported on Friday. The prize's theme for this year is "New Material Technologies".

Addressing the award ceremony in Hanoi capital city on Thursday, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Quoc Khanh said the development of new materials is needed to tackle challenges in modern technology, especially with the fourth industrial revolution approaching.

In this context, research on and application of new material technologies play a crucial part in linking economies in the Asia-Pacific region, the official said.