European Social Innovation Competition top 10 Finalists Announced
The ‘European Social Innovation Competition: The Challenge Prize’ is a competition run by the European Commission with support from the European Innovation Council across all EU Member States and Horizon Europe countries.
The competition is for social innovators in Europe and supports early-stage ideas. Each year, 3 €50,000 prizes are awarded to the most socially innovative projects. The competition supports the development of early-stage ideas through a business accelerator, mentoring and coaching.
This year, the focus of the Competition was ‘Skills for Tomorrow – Shaping a green and digital future’. The key aim was for projects to address the demands of a changing world. 10 finalists were selected.
Valentina Superti, Director at the European Commission, European Commission DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW), states that “After careful deliberation, our expert Jury has narrowed down the 30 semi-finalists to the final 10 teams in this year’s Competition. It was not an easy task, as all the teams had put forward exciting and innovative visions for developing the skills we need to create a greener and more digital Europe”.
Adding to this, Jean-David Malo, Director of The European Innovation Council and SME Executive Agency (EISMEA) said “This year’s 10 finalists embody the spirit of the European Social Innovation Competition. They look at societal needs and take innovative and exciting approaches to address the challenges that we face and make our world a better place. All the teams are worthy finalists and the Jury is now faced with the difficult task of selecting the final three winners”.
The 10 finalists all take an innovative approach to develop the skills needed to support Europe’s green and digital transition.
The finalists are:
-
Circuteria - Germany
-
Eco-Friendly digital manufacturing marketplace - Romania
-
Edumus - Estonia
-
Forward43 - Netherlands
-
Happaning - United Kingdom
-
Shaping Horizons - United Kingdom
-
SkillLab - Netherlands
-
Snowball Effect – Austria
-
Summitto - Netherlands
-
Zekki- What's up? – Finland
Finalists will receive support and expert coaching to help them prepare their projects for an awards event on 8 December. All finalists and semi-finalists will be invited to attend the Award Ceremony along with the winner of the 2021 Impact Prize.
Learn more about the European Social Innovation Competition here.
