EU Prize for Women Innovators 2017 (€ 100,000)

The European Commission has launched the 4th edition of the EU Women Innovators Prize. Deadline for applications is November 3, 2016. The prize is meant to reward women who have achieved outstanding innovations and brought them to market. The EC will award up to three EU Prizes for Women Innovators and a new prize: the Rising Innovator Award following a European-wide contest, meant for young innovators under the age of 35 at the start of their careers. The prizes are as follows:

First Prize € 100,000;
Second Prize € 50,000;
Third Prize € 30,000;
Rising Innovators € 20,000.

Europe urgently needs more innovators to stay competitive in the coming decades and to spur economic growth. The large number of well-educated women who, for various reasons, including lack of awareness, do not consider entrepreneurship as an option, represents a tremendous untapped pool of innovation.Awards have a strong potential to drive innovation through the recognition of achievements and the promotion of role models. Therefore, the EC created in 2011 a Prize for Women Innovators to increase public awareness of this issue and to encourage women to exploit the commercial and business opportunities and become entrepreneurs.
 
After the success of the forerunners of the contest in 2011, 2014 and 2016, the Commission intends to continue its drive to spotlight women researchers who have brought outstanding innovations to the market. For the fourth prize the EC wants to highlight the outstanding achievements of women innovators who have (co-) founded a successful company and brought an innovation to market and benefited from Research and Innovation funding from the public or private sector.