The European Social Innovation Competition (EUSIC) winners have been awarded by the Commission and the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). The 2022 challenge: “the future of living” was designed to attract applications from diverse fields tackling the challenge linked to the current architecture and sustainable solutions of European housing districts.
Winners of 10th edition of EUSIC Challenge Prize
The jury selected three winners who will receive EUR 50 000 each.
The three winners of the 10th edition of the EUSIC are:
- ReLearn (Italy) uses Artificial Intelligence to help companies and municipalities reduce their environmental impact by monitoring the produced waste.
- Sostre Cívic (Spain) successfully implements an alternative housing model, fairer and more accessible, non-profit, non-speculative and transformative.
- Efficient Energy Technology winning with the project SolMatePro (Austria) provides energy storage (a pressing issue regarding the energy transition to renewables) in urban areas with a great ease of use.
Winner of the EUSIC Impact Prize
The winner of the Impact Prize is Sofia2Go from Bulgaria. The jury member panel has decided to award this digital platform connecting foodies with good food leftovers thanks to their clear social mission and its impact-driven activities leading to long-term change.
Social Innovation Academia
In addition to the monetary prize, all the finalists were invited for a 2-day Social Innovation Academia. This Academia offers business acceleration services (i.e., coaching with neuroscientific and creative approach) to help the 19 EUSIC finalists developing and scaling up their applications. EIMEA has organised this event to recognise the role of EUSIC finalists in flourishing social innovation across Europe and beyond.
During the first stage of the competition, 28 applications were received. From those, 21 were identified as finalists and invited to apply to the second phase. Finally, 19 teams applied and are attending the Social Innovation Academia: 2 Austrian, 1 Belgian, 1 Czech, 2 French, 1 German, 1 Irish, 6 Italian, 1 Dutch, 1 Turkish and 3 Spanish participants.
More about the European Social Innovation Competition
This 10th edition of the European Social Innovation Competition (EUSIC) is supported by the European Innovation Council (EIC) under Horizon Europe. EUSIC is one of the four European Innovation Council Prizes managed by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency.
The European Social Innovation Competition aims at stimulating the potential of social innovation to provide solutions to societal challenges that we face and to foster sustainable and inclusive growth in Europe. It will directly support ideas best illustrating this rationale. It will engage people, businesses and start-ups in a large range of sectors, as well as universities, engineering schools and civil society organisations thereby creating new connections, sources of sustainable growth and meaningful job opportunities.
The prize attracts a great number of applicants each year. Past editions topics were the following: Skills for tomorrow – Shaping a green and digital future (2021), Reimagine Fashion (2020), Challenging Plastic Waste (2019), Re:think Local (2018), Equality Rebooted (2017), Integrated Futures (2016), New Ways to Grow (2015), The Job Challenge (2014), and New forms of work (2013).
Useful links
The European Social Innovation Competition (EUSIC) 2022: the winners
Discover running social innovation projects under the Single Market Programme: European Affordable Housing Consortium (SHAPE-EU) and Horizon Europe.
Apply to the Horizon Europe call open until 20 April 2023: Resilient Value Chains 2023 call thought Funding & tenders portal. New calls for proposals will be soon announced as the Single Market Programme 2023 will be adopted.
Source: European Innovation Council I News (https://bit.ly/3E7fpZt)