The fourth edition of the European Innovation Procurement Awards (EUIPA) has been launched today by the European Commission. The contestants can submit their applications until 26 September 2024 (17:00 CET).
Every innovation needs early adopters before reaching widescale deployment on the market. Those early customers that purchase the development, testing and/or the deployment of innovative solutions, boost the process of transforming innovative ideas into market-ready solutions. The European Innovation Procurement Awards (EUIPA), supported by the European Innovation Council (EIC) under Horizon Europe, recognise public and private buyers, natural persons and those legal entities in their efforts to promote and stimulate innovation procurement.
The Awards also aim to demonstrate how innovation procurement positively transforms the economy by not only creating new and sustainable markets, but also by tackling societal challenges such as climate change.
Iliana Ivanova, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth said:
The European Innovation Procurement Awards celebrate visionary procurement practices that meet the needs of today and at the same time pave the way for a more innovative tomorrow. These awards showcase the best in public and private sector innovation, highlighting how creative, innovative solutions can address pressing challenges, help innovative companies grow and improve lives. I invite all innovation-minded customers that have used innovation procurement to apply for the European Innovation Procurement Awards and inspire further innovation and collaboration across Europe.
The contest will award six prizes, in total, across the following two categories:
- The Facing societal challenges category: focused on rewarding innovation procurement initiatives that help Europe in its transition to a Net Zero economy.
- The Innovation procurement initiative category: open to innovation procurement initiatives that tackled any other challenge.
Both categories are open to projects that took place in any sector (e.g. health, transport, energy, environment, construction, security, education, manufacturing, ICT, etc.), and to different types of innovation procurement initiatives:
- Procurements of research and development
- Procurements of innovative solutions
- Initiatives that triggered several innovation procurements (e.g. innovation procurement strategies/ programmes/action plans)
Innovation can take many different forms such as product innovation, service innovation, process innovation, organisational innovation and marketing innovation. Innovative solutions can therefore cover not only new or significantly improved solutions, but also new or improved ways of combining or applying/using existing solutions.
Each of the two categories will reward one winner (ranked 1st) with EUR 75 000, one runner-up (ranked 2nd) with EUR 50 000, and one runner-up (ranked 3rd) with EUR 25 000.
The winners and runners up will be determined based on the award criteria listed on the Awards’ page under the “Who should apply” section.
The prize is open to any public and private buyers, natural persons, and legal entities supporting those practices located in one of the EU Member States or Associated Countries to Horizon Europe. The awarded procurement practice as well must have taken place in these countries.
The awarded procurement practice must relate to completed or ongoing initiatives started after 1 January 2019. Rules of contest describe in more detail the conditions and eligibility for participation.
The contest is open for applications until 26 September 2024 (17:00 CET). Click here to apply to the Facing societal challenges category or to the Innovation procurement initiative category.
Background
The European Innovation Procurement Awards are one of the European Innovation Council Prizes granted under Horizon Europe, the European Union's research and innovation framework programme. The prize is managed by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, and the winners are chosen following an assessment performed by high-level juries of independent experts.
More information:
European Innovation Procurement Awards
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Details
- Publication date
- 26 June 2024
- Author
- European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency