Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EYE) Innovator Awards 2023: winners announced

At the 30th Network Meeting of all EYE beneficiaries, which took place in Santiago de Compostela on 7 and 8 March 2023, one new and one host entrepreneurs were awarded the EYE Innovator Awards.

Among the four finalists pitching to receive the EYE Innovator Award, Ukrainian, Berlin-based New Entrepreneur Mariia Alipatova and Italian Host Entrepreneur Gianpietro Calai received the deserved recognition for their involvement and success in the EYE programme.

The ceremony took place during the 30th Network Meeting of all Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs beneficiaries, which took place in Santiago de Compostela (Spain) last 7 and 8 March 2023.

Winning New Entrepreneur

The award winner in the category New Entrepreneur, was Mariia Alipatova from Ukraine, currently based in Berlin. Thanks to this EYE exchange in 2022, she was able to set up Solar optic,a business which will offer solutions to illuminate buildings sustainably with natural warm and sunlight directly when the sunlight is available.

Solar Optic technical solution contributes value to the customer in all “three dimensions of sustainability”: economically, environmentally, and socially. She was matched by the Kyiv based EYE intermediary Civitta Ukraine.

Winning Host Entrepreneur

The award winner in the category Host Entrepreneur, Gianpietro Calai from Italy, has launched a project for a drone capable of dealing with emergency situations that can be faced with light vehicles and low operating costs. He developed this together with new entrepreneur Óscar Ruiz. Gianpietro was matched to Oscar with the help of the EYE local contact point Unione Regionale delle Camere di Commercio, I.A.A. del Veneto – Eurosportello Veneto. Check Gianpietro’s short video testimonial about his EYE experience.

Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs for Ukrainian new entrepreneurs Call and Info Session

To promote the matching especially of Ukrainian entrepreneurs, the Agency has launched the call for proposal SMP-COSME-2023-EYEUA – Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs for Ukrainian new entrepreneurs (ReadyForEU) on 28 February. The submission deadline is on 11 May 2023, 17:00 CET. This call aims at selecting five international consortia, each with a maximum grant of €600 000. At least one business support organisation must be from Ukraine in each project. A call specific online info session will be organised on 27 March at 14:00 CET, providing info on the programme as such, the call requirements (consortium eligibility, funding etc.), and financial provisions.

Source: European Commission | EISMEA (https://bit.ly/3yR6wjq)