- Posted 14-Dec-2021
European Social Innovation Competition: The results are in!
The European Commission and the European Innovation Council and SME Executive Agency (EISMEA) are pleased to announce the winners of European Social Innovation Competition: the challenge prize Skills for Tomorrow – Shaping a green and digital future.
The three winning projects, each of which will receive EUR 50 000, were announced at the European Social Innovation Competition Awards Ceremony, held online on 8 December 2021. This year’s winners are:
- SkillLab, a project from the Netherlands that is developing a mobile solution that helps people to identify and express their skills. It also matches skills to occupations and training offerings that address skill-gaps.
- Snowball Effect, an Austrian school supporting aspiring social entrepreneurs to replicate proven social enterprises in their region.
- Zekki - What's up? - a digital service from Finland that matches young people with various
- support services based on an online wellbeing self-assessment quiz.
The three winning projects were deemed to have taken the most innovative approaches and shown the greatest potential in terms of developing the skills needed to support Europe’s green and digital transition.
The 2021 Impact Prize The European Social Innovation Competition is not just about great ideas, but also about impact. The 2021 Impact Prize looks at the semi-finalists from last year’s Competition - Reimagine Fashion - Changing behaviours for sustainable fashion – and awards EUR 50 000 to the project judged to have delivered the most significant social impact over the past 12 months.
To enter the Impact Prize, the 2020 semi-finalists completed an Impact Report, outlining their progress and impact methodology, enabling the jury panel to analyse their impact and results.
After careful deliberation, EISMEA selected MycoTEX® from the Netherlands as the winner of this year’s Impact Prize and commended the project for how well they have met their impact goals over the past year. MycoTEX® uses an automated seamless production technology to create custom-fit products out of sustainable, vegan textiles made from mycelium (mushroom roots), replacing plastics and leathers with compostable materials.
More about the European Social Innovation Competition
Launched in memory of social innovation pioneer Diogo Vasconcelos, the ‘European Social Innovation Competition is a competition run by the European Commission, with support from the European Innovation Council across all EU Member States and Horizon Europe associated countries.
Now in its ninth year, the Competition acts as a beacon for social innovators in Europe, employing a proven methodology for supporting early-stage ideas and facilitating a network of radical innovators that are shaping society for the better.
Each year, three EUR 50 000 Challenge prizes and one €50 000 Impact Prize are awarded for the best socially innovative projects designed to improve the world. The Competition supports the development of early-stage ideas through business accelerator support such as mentoring and coaching and the facilitation of a peer network of social innovators.
Each year the Competition addresses a different issue facing Europe and our societies. In 2021, the focus was on Skills for Tomorrow – Shaping a green and digital future and was specifically looking to incentivise, support and reward social innovations that would help people and organisations to identify, develop and strengthen the skills we will need to adapt and thrive in a changing world.
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Source: European Innovation Council I news (https://bit.ly/31YdO7I)