EU Prize for Women Innovators

Topic description

Specific Challenge:

Women are underrepresented in terms of creating innovative enterprises. This is an untapped potential for Europe, which needs to optimise all available resources to remain competitive and find solutions to our societal challenges.

This award scheme recognises the role of women in bringing about game-changing innovations to market honouring the outstanding achievements of women running innovative companies. The "EU Prize for Women Innovators" will be awarded to up to four women innovators in total (three women and one young woman innovator, so-called 'rising innovator') who have created the largest impact on the innovation ecosystem by transforming ideas into new and advanced products and/or services for the benefit and wealth of the European citizens.

Three prizes of EUR 0,1 million each and one prize of EUR 0.05 million in the 'rising innovator' category: EUR 0.35 million from the 2018 budget and EUR 0.35 million from the 2019 budget.

The specific rules of the contest will be published each year by the European Commission (on the Participant Portal but also actively publicised elsewhere to maximise participation), which will directly launch and manage the contest and award the prize based on the judgement of independent experts.

This activity directly aimed at supporting the development and implementation of evidence base for R&I policies and supporting various groups of stakeholders is excluded from the delegation to REA and will be managed by the Commission services.

It is expected that this action will continue in 2020.

The prizes will boost public awareness of the potential, importance and contribution of women to the innovation ecosystem and create strong role models inspiring other women to become innovators themselves.

Open Innovation
Gender