 However, as a result of the debate that followed the establishment of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (first awarded in 1969), the Nobel Foundation had decided not to associate the Nobel Prize with any additional awards, so von Uexküll's proposal was rejected.From 1980-2019, the foundation presented awards to 178 Laureates from 70 countries.Its self-described purpose is to bestow prizes and thus publicize the work of recipients' local solutions to worldwide problems.