Conditions and selection criteria for Social Innovation Awards

Who can present submissions?

We want to discover projects from the innovation, social entrepreneurship and social impact ecosystems, aligned with the following fields of action:

1. Safe and sustainable mobility.
2. Silver Economy: opportunities for senior population.
3. Health improvement and digital technology (e-Health).

Initiatives may come from university students y business schools, scientists, researchers and university professors, as well as from entrepreneurs with innovative projects, both natural and legal persons, who meet the requirements.

In addition, projects must absolutely fulfil the following requirements:

• Formal, material and geographical requirements. Fill in the application form correctly. You may submit your project if you belong to any of the specified geographical regions and your project is related to one of the three above-mentioned categories.
• Your team must include at least one team member who is working full-time on the project.
• The project must have at least one prototype or pilot test of a social innovation idea that includes user participation.
• The person or promoter entity for your project must not have received income above € 300,000 in 2023.

Selection criteria

The projects submitted will be assessed according to the following selection criteria:

1. The potential for social impact in one of the three award categories.
2. The innovation of the project submitted for the competition and the arguments that prove its value to become a reality in addressing a social problem.
3. The viability of the project, in technical, economic and organizational terms.
4. The ability and experience of the team to carry out the proposal submitted and the level of commitment.
5. The maturity of the idea, demonstrated in initial pilot/test results and experimental programmes (scope, dimension, KPIs, learning, milestones achieved).
6. Associated legal aspects: any projects for which there are doubts regarding their legal standing will be excluded.

We clear up your doubts

1. Can I apply for more than one category? Yes, you can, but you need to properly justify how the idea fits into that category.
2. Area of application: the home country of the submitting entity or the geographical area where the project is developed? The project shall submit its application in the geographical area where its representative or promoter entity resides. Also, if the nationality of the members of the team is different to the geographical areas covered in this edition, this will not exclude them from taking part in the competition, providing that the project’s effective impact in any of the three above-mentioned geographical areas can be demonstrated.
3. Industrial or intellectual property? Industrial and intellectual property will remain the ownership of the candidates. The prize is €40,000 to each winner for each of the 3 categories.
4. Who is on the judging panel? Similar profiles to previous editions: social innovation experts, impact investors, organisations and others tied to the innovation ecosystem.
5. What will happen after the awards in terms of project follow-up? The monitoring of the finalists will be done through Red Innova, the awards’ community of social entrepreneurs who contribute and generate value, managed and fostered by and for its members.