EU Prize for Women Innovators
HORIZON Recognition Prize
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-EIC-2021-WomenInnovatorsPrize
- Programme
- EU Prize for Women Innovators
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- March 17, 2021
- Deadline
- June 29, 2021
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €350,000
Description
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.
Specific Challenge:The opportunities created by novel technologies and disruptive innovations promise to deliver the fair and sustainable recovery Europe needs. But Europe risks missing out on these opportunities if half its population is overlooked as a source of innovation and creative talent.
The EU Prize for Women Innovators celebrates the women entrepreneurs behind game-changing innovations. In doing so, the EU seeks to raise awareness of the need for more female innovators, and create role models for women and girls everywhere.
The prize is awarded to the most talented women entrepreneurs from across the EU and countries associated to Horizon Europe, who have founded a successful company and brought innovation to market. The prize is launched and managed by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, and the winners are chosen by an independent expert jury.
In the ‘Women Innovators’ main category, three prizes of EUR 100 000 each are awarded to the women who, in the opinion of the jury, have excelled in all award criteria and stood out amongst the other applicants. In the second category, one prize of EUR 50 000 is awarded to a promising ‘Rising Innovator’ aged 30 or younger.
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
1. Admissibility conditions: described in the Rules of Contest for this prize.
Proposal page limits and layout: described in the Rules of Contest for this prize.
2. Eligible countries: described in the Rules of Contest for this prize.
3. Other eligibility conditions:
To be eligible, the applicant must be:
- a woman
- an ordinary resident in an EU Member State (including overseas countries and territories), or a country associated to Horizon Europe
- founder or co-founder of an active innovative company registered at least two years before the submission deadline
In addition to the above, those applying for the Rising Innovator category must be aged 30 or younger at the start of the call year.
Applicants that have already received an EU or Euratom prize cannot receive a second prize for the same activities.
The eligibility criteria are set out in the Rules of Contest for this prize.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in the Rules of Contest for this prize.
- Award criteria, scoring and thresholds:
The prize is awarded to the applicants who in the opinion of the jury best address the following criteria:
- Breakthrough innovation – the company founded or co-founded by the applicant provides a truly innovative product or service.
- Impact – the product or service addresses a specific societal need or challenge, with significant benefits to citizens and to the economy.
- Inspiration – the applicant has shown active leadership and has played a pivotal role in the success of the company. The applicant has the potential to inspire others.
The award criteria are described in the Rules of Contest for this prize.
- Submission and evaluation processes: described in the Rules of Contest for this prize.
- Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement:
The jury evaluation is planned to take place between July and October 2021. Applicants will be informed of the outcome in the fourth quarter of 2021.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in the Rules of Contest for this prize.
Specific conditions
Call document and annexes:
The Application Form is available upon starting the submission.
Support & Resources
Online Manual is your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant.
Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – Submission of proposals.
Research Enquiry Service – ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular.
Enterprise Europe Network – contact your EEN national contact for advice to businesses with special focus on SMEs. The support includes guidance on the EU research funding.
IT Helpdesk – contact the Funding & Tenders Portal IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc.
Ethics – for compliance with ethical issues, see the Online Manual.
European IPR Helpdesk assists you on intellectual property issues.
CEN and CENELEC, the European Standards Organisations, advise you how to tackle standardisation in your project proposal. Contact CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk at [email protected].
The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment
Partner Search Services help you find a partner organisation for your proposal.