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European Innovation Council
News article2 August 2021

47 applications received for the first edition of the European Innovation Procurement Awards

Supported by the EIC under Horizon Europe, the 1st edition of the European Innovation Procurement Awards closed on Thursday 29 July. The call received 47 applications from across European Union and Horizon Europe Associated Countries.

Eligible applications will now be evaluated from August through October by a high-level jury of independent experts. The shortlisted applicants will be announced in September, and the winners will be announced on the 24th of November 2021, at the European Innovation Council Summit.

The prize rewards public and private buyers in their effort to promote procurement of innovation and thus help SMEs and start-ups across Europe to bring their innovative products and services to the markets.

This year’s edition features three categories: Innovation procurement strategy, Facing societal challenges and Procurement leadership. Each category will reward the winner with EUR 75 000 and one runner-up with EUR 25 000.

 

Background

The European Innovation Procurement Awards

The first edition of the competition recognises powerful cases of public and private buyers on using innovation procurement practices across Europe and emphasises the importance of close buyer–supplier cooperation in bringing the innovative solutions to market.

Innovation procurement modernises public sector with more economical and higher quality solutions. These practices directly contribute to EU competitiveness, by opening a route-to-the market for new players, especially SMEs. They also help larger companies to bring innovative products to the market, stimulating cross-border company growth and the creation of jobs. Innovation procurement also serves to tackle the most pressing societal needs.

This is one of the four 2021 European Innovation Council Prizes that celebrate those shaping the future of innovation in Europe, alongside with the EU Prize for Women Innovators, the European Capital of Innovation Awards, the European Social Innovation Competition.

European Innovation Council

The European Innovation Council (EIC) is a one-stop-shop for high potential innovators with a budget of €10 billion for 2021-2027. It provides support from idea to market, from early-stage scientific research on breakthrough technologies, to transitioning research results into commercial opportunities, and the development and scaling up of innovative start-ups and SMEs. A key novelty of Horizon Europe, it capitalises on the lessons learnt and achievements from the pilot phase 2018-2021 under Horizon 2020, which supported over 5,000 SMEs and start-ups and over 330 projects research projects.

More information:

EISMEA-EUIPAwardsatec [dot] europa [dot] eu (EISMEA-EUIPAwards[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)

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Twitter:

@EUeic #EUeic

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Details

Publication date
2 August 2021