About the Innovation Radar Prize 2019

The Innovation Radar (IR) is a European Commission initiative to identify high potential innovations and innovators in EU-funded research and innovation projects. Using the radar, 36 of the best EU-funded innovators have been identified to compete with their EU-funded innovation for the Innovation Radar Prize 2019.

The public is invited to vote for their favourite innovators from among these 36 in a three-week long public vote that opens on 5 August 2019. On the basis of this vote, the 12 finalists who get to compete in the Innovation Radar final will be identified.

Nominees are grouped into four categories:

This public vote will decide which 3 innovators go forward from each category to the final (the top 3 in each category in terms of votes secured makes the final). The 12 finalists get to pitch their plans for going to market with their EU-funded tech to a jury of experts at the Research and Innovation Days in Brussels (24, 25 and 26 September 2019). 

The jury will decide on one winner from each category. One overall 'Grand Prix' winner will also be chosen by the jury who will be featured on a euronews programme about their innovation and its market potential.

To help the finalists in the preparation of their online profile page and pitches, experts and professionals from IRSUS, a Horizon 2020 funded project which supports the European Commisison's implementation of the Innovation Radar, will offer targeted support and advice. IRSUS consortium partners include expertise in value creation of R&I results, business & entrepreneurship, EU projects & funding sources and cover the whole European geography. 

Previous Innovation Radar Prize winners

In 2018, the overall winner was Gr3n, a swiss company who invented a new process which allows for the first time to recycle PET bottles/food containers chemically in a profitable way. The objective is now to build the first pilot plant of the full de-polymerization process, designing and building a new reactor prototype but also embedding it within an optimized purification process. This will be the final step to then finalize the industrialization and bring to the market this revolutionary re-cycling solution.Learn more about Gr3n in this euronews feature. 

In 2017 the overall winner was CATEC, a Spanish Aviation research centre, for industrial drones they developed with EU funding. Their drones can not only allow "see" from the air, but also "touch and feel". The CATEC drones – which integrate a robotic arm, advanced software and state-of-the-art sensors - open up new possibilities for performing industrial inspections that require contact. Learn more about CATEC in this euronews feature.

In 2016 the overall Innovation Radar prize was awarded to Intrinsic-ID, a Dutch SME, which developed a unique technology and has become a world leader in security systems. Their technology - authentication technology based on the electronic fingerprint of devices - was developed within the EU-funded project PUFFIN. Intrinsic ID are today selling this technology to customers around the world. Learn more about Intrinsic ID in this euronews feature.

In 2015 the first ever Innovation Radar Prize was awarded to BroadBit, during the ICT 2015 event in Lisbon. Since then, BroadBit, an SME originally from Slovakia but now based in Finland, have raised additional finance to fund expansion and production of their innovative battery technology. Learn more about BroadBit in this euronews feature.