Innovation and research

European Innovation Council & SMEs Executive Agency - EU Prize for Women Innovators

AWARD - The prize is awarded to the most talented women entrepreneurs from across the EU and countries associated to Horizon Europe, who have founded a successful company and brought innovation to market. The prize is launched and managed by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, and the winners are chosen by an independent expert jury.

 In the ‘Women Innovators’ main category, 3 prizes of EUR 100 000 each are awarded to the women who, in the opinion of the jury, have excelled in all award criteria and stood out amongst the other applicants. In the second category, 1 prize of EUR 50 000 is awarded to a promising ‘Rising Innovator’ aged 30 or younger.

The 2022 edition of the EU Prize for Women Innovators will be launched in March with a deadline in August 2022. Please check this webpage for updates, or follow us on Twitter @EUeic with the hashtag #WiPrizeEU.

European Commission - We Gate

NETWORKING - A growing and diverse number of stakeholders are engaging to support women entrepreneurs across Europe. The European Gateway for Women’s entrepreneurship WeGate is an e-platform launched by the European Commission to support this network.

European Innovation Council - Women Leadership Programme

EDUCATION & DEVELOPMENT - To further support the role of women in innovation and tech the European Innovation Council (EIC) is offering a skills enhancement and networking programme for EIC-supported women entrepreneurs and researchers, the Women Leadership Programme (WLP).  

Who can participate?

The EIC Women Leadership Programme targets EIC beneficiaries, specifically:

• Business women in in management positions, who want to strengthen their skills and expand their network;

• Women within established companies aspiring to take over leadership positions in business development;

• Women researchers involved in research projects aspiring to lead the transition of their research into businesses.

European Institute of Innovation and Technology - Girls Go Circular

EDUCATION - In 2021, 12 000 schoolgirls aged 14-18 will participate in online training, encompassing individual work as well as group activities and leadership challenges. The students will not only use digital media as a platform to study, work and develop ideas, but also as a means to train their leadership skills. Themes like food, fashion and the use and disposal of technological appliances will be the cornerstones of this learning, empowering girls to become part of the solution to the current sustainability challenge.

Girls Go Circular is an initiative of EIT RawMaterials and EIT Manufacturing executed in partnership with Brainshuttle and Junior Achievement Europe. The project is a part of the Cross-KIC Skills for Future Initiative, a groundbreaking secondary education programme, fostering the next generation of entrepreneurs in Europe.

NETWORKING EVENT - On 28 October join the 1st Women & Girls in STEM Forum to discuss the actions we need to take to close the #STEMgendergap together! The forum is organised by #GirlsGoCircular, in collaboration with the European Commission, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG EAC). Register here

European Central Bank - Women in economics scholarship

SCHOLARSHIP - We are offering five female economics students grants of €10,000 each.

European Institute of Innovation and Technology - EIT Raw Materials - ENGIE project

EDUCATION - EIT RawMaterials is supporting the implementation of the ENGIE project (Encouraging Girls to Study Geosciences and Engineering), which aims to attract 13 to 18-year-old girls to study geosciences and related engineering disciplines, with the objective of improving the gender balance in these fields at entry-level to tertiary education and the workplace. It focuses on informing and inspiring secondary school female students as career decisions are made generally in this period of their lives. It started in January 2020 and lasts for three years.

European Institute of Innovation and Technology - EIT Health - WE Health

EDUCATION - WE Health is an EIT Health Education programme designed to enhance the participation of women in health innovation and entrepreneurship. WE Health empowers female health innovators by providing training specifically tailored to their needs, offering inspiration and support to help them advance in their professional careers. WE Health also aims to raise awareness of the positive economic and social impact of gender diversity in health innovation, while generating new ideas that promote innovation across the entrepreneur community in a more balanced way.

European Institute of Innovation and Technology - EIT Health - Women Entrepreneurship Bootcamp

NETWORKING - The Women Entrepreneurship Bootcamp connects high growth, women-led or co-led start-ups to an unparalleled network of investors and mentors – helping nurture and support rapid growth.

We’ll help you leverage the diversity in your leadership team to achieve the best possible outcomes for your start-up. And this programme will also help you find the reference points you need to successfully frame your ambition and attract more investment

The Women Entrepreneurship Bootcamp is a seven-week programme – providing intensive training, mentoring and networking opportunities in Galway (Ireland), Coimbra (Portugal), Barcelona (Spain) and London (UK). During this time, you’ll participate in two pitch events and enjoy significant one-to-one face time with investors.

European Institute of Innovation and Technology - EIT Food WE Lead Food

NETWORKING - The WE Lead Food Programme is designed to equip you with the tools to make that difference and achieve results. The network is open to all discipline backgrounds; research, business, policy, civil society members. The WE Lead Food Programme will now be offered online from 2020 and has been designed specifically to ensure a high level of interactions, spontaneity and dynamism to build the network and opportunities for collaboration.

European Institute of Innovation and Technology - EIT Digital European Female-Led Digital Deep Tech Startup & Scaleup Landscape

 VISIBILITY - Giving Visibility to Women Led Deep Tech Startups & Scaleups.

European Commission - CAP - Boosting women-led innovation in farming and rural areas

The role that European women play in rural development and in farming is still widely under-researched. And so is their role as entrepreneurs and innovation leaders, the specifics of the innovations they develop and how the current governance framework contributes to boosting their innovation capacity or to hampering it. 

Proposals should be transdisciplinary, with a key role for social sciences and humanities (SSH) such as sociology, psychology, economics and innovation studies. This topic should involve the effective contribution of SSH disciplines. Social innovation should be considered alongside other types of innovation.

Living Lab for gender-responsive innovation

A “Living Lab” will be put in place, gathering innovators as well as social science and gender scholars to investigate and generate new and disruptive ideas to promote women innovators and develop gender-responsive innovation.