The European Social Innovation Competition (EUSIC) winners have been awarded by the Commission and the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). The 2022 challenge: “the future of living” was designed to attract applications from diverse fields tackling the challenge linked to the current architecture and sustainable solutions of European housing districts.
Jean-David Malo, Director of European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency said: “We award European Social Innovation Competition Prize to find most innovative solutions to societal challenges. Effective change requires local leadership with a global vision. Our finalists are real change-makers, raising awareness of energy consumption, implementing changes in public and private sectors, creating a new, inclusive, sustainable, and affordable market”.
The jury selected three winners who will receive EUR 50 000 each. The three winners of the 10th edition of the EUSIC are:
- ReLearn (Italy), which uses Artificial Intelligence to help companies and municipalities reduce their environmental impact by monitoring the produced waste. https://www.re-learn.eu/
- Sostre Cívic (Spain) a Co-operative that successfully implements an alternative housing model, fairer and more accessible, non-profit, non-speculative and transformative. The co-housing Model. https://sostrecivic.coop/
- Efficient Energy Technology, winning with the project SolMatePro (Austria), that provides energy storage (a pressing issue regarding the energy transition to renewables) in urban areas with a great ease of use. https://www.eet.energy/
EUSIC Impact Prize
The winner of the Impact Prize is Sofia2Go from Bulgaria. The jury member panel has decided to award this digital platform connecting foodies with good food leftovers thanks to their clear social mission and its impact-driven activities leading to long-term change. https://www.foody.to/
Social Innovation Academia
In addition to the monetary prize, all the finalists were invited for a 2-day Social Innovation Academia. This Academia offers business acceleration services (i.e., coaching with neuroscientific and creative approach) to help the 19 EUSIC finalists developing and scaling up their applications. EIMEA has organised this event to recognise the role of EUSIC finalists in flourishing social innovation across Europe and beyond.
During the first stage of the competition, 28 applications were received. From those, 21 were identified as finalists and invited to apply to the second phase. Finally, 19 teams applied and are attending the Social Innovation Academia: 2 Austrian, 1 Belgian, 1 Czech, 2 French, 1 German, 1 Irish, 6 Italian, 1 Dutch, 1 Turkish and 3 Spanish participants.
More about the European Social Innovation Competition
Useful links
The European Social Innovation Competition (EUSIC) 2022: the winners
Discover running social innovation projects under the Single Market Programme: European Affordable Housing Consortium (SHAPE-EU) and Horizon Europe. https://shape-affordablehousing.eu/
