Women Innovators category

The European Prize for Women Innovators is a recognition program organized jointly by the European Innovation Council and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology to celebrate women entrepreneurs making significant contributions to innovation. The program aims to encourage female participation in STEM fields and inspire future generations of women innovators.

Eligible applicants must be women who are founders or co-founders of companies established in EU Member States or associated countries, with a requirement for at least two years of registration before the call year. There are specific categories targeting different age groups and affiliations, including the Rising Innovators for women under 35 and the EIT Women Leadership category associated with the EIT Community.

The funding type is a monetary prize, with up to €100,000 available for the Women Innovators category and €50,000 for the Rising Innovators category. Each category awards three prizes. The application process follows a single-stage open call, with a submission deadline of 25 September 2025. Applicants must submit a completed application form and a video message highlighting their achievements.

The evaluation will be conducted on criteria such as breakthrough innovation, societal impact, and inspirational leadership. The overall competitiveness of the prize is high, with approximately 9 finalists selected from many applications, indicating a potential success rate of 10 to 39%.

No co-funding is required as it is a prize rather than a grant. Winners are expected to promote their achievements and acknowledge EU support in their communications. The results of the evaluation will be announced between February and May 2026, following the assessment period from October 2025 to February 2026.

The prize is designed to improve public awareness of women's contributions to innovation and serve as a platform to inspire more women to pursue careers in technology and entrepreneurship.

The European Prize for Women Innovators 2026

This prize, organized jointly by the Agency and the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), aims to celebrate women entrepreneurs behind Europe’s game-changing innovations, inspiring other women and girls to become future scientists, innovators, and tech leaders. It supports a culture within research and innovation organizations and companies that allows women to become innovators and entrepreneurs. The prize is awarded annually to women from across the EU and countries associated with Horizon Europe who have transformed their ideas into disruptive innovations benefiting people and the planet.

There are three categories: the Women Innovators category and the Rising Innovators category, both funded by the EIC, and the EIT Women Leadership category, funded by the EIT. The Rules of Contest apply to both the EIC and EIT prize categories.

Call Information:

Programme: Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
Call: The European Prize for Women Innovators (HORIZON-EIC-2025-PRIZE-WIP)
Type of Action: HORIZON-RPr (HORIZON Recognition Prize)
Type of MGA: HORIZON Prize [HORIZON-PR]
Deadline Model: Single-stage
Planned Opening Date: 17 June 2025
Deadline Date: 25 September 2025, 17:00:00 Brussels time

Budget Overview (Year 2025):

HORIZON-EIC-2025-PRIZE-WIP-RisingInnovators:
Budget: EUR 100,000
Stages: Single-stage
Opening Date: 17 June 2025
Deadline: 25 September 2025
Indicative Number of Grants: 3

HORIZON-EIC-2025-PRIZE-WIP-WomenInnovatorsCategory:
Budget: EUR 220,000
Stages: Single-stage
Opening Date: 17 June 2025
Deadline: 25 September 2025
Indicative Number of Grants: 3

Expected Impact:

The prize will boost public awareness of the potential, importance, and contribution of women to the EU innovation ecosystem and create strong role models, inspiring more women to become innovators.

Objective:

To celebrate women entrepreneurs behind Europe’s game-changing innovations, inspiring other women and girls to realize their full potential as future scientists, innovators, and tech leaders.

Scope:

The prize supports a culture within research and innovation organizations and companies, enabling women to become the innovators and entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

General Conditions:

1. Admissibility Conditions:

Applications must be submitted before the call deadline (25 September 2025, 17:00 CET).
Submissions must be electronic via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System. Paper submissions are not allowed.
Applications must be complete, containing all requested information, annexes, and supporting documents, using the forms provided inside the Submission System.
Application Form Part A: Administrative information about the applicant (natural person) to be filled in directly online.
Application Form Part B: Technical description of the application (template to be downloaded, completed, and re-uploaded) with a maximum of 15 pages. Evaluators will not consider additional pages.
Mandatory Annexes and Supporting Documents:
An inspiring video message (maximum 90 seconds, under 100MB, .zip file) describing the applicant and their achievements.
Proof of age for the Rising Innovators category.
The application must be readable, accessible, and printable.
Additional documents may be requested later for legal entity validation, bank account validation, ethics review, and declaration of honor.

2. Eligible Countries:

EU Member States, including overseas countries and territories (OCTs), and countries associated with Horizon Europe.

3. Other Eligible Conditions:

Applicants must:
Be a woman (cis woman, or a transgender woman who is legally defined as a woman) applying as a natural person.
Be legally residing in an eligible country. Legal residence is defined as being recognized as a resident under national law, with proof available upon request.
Be the founder or co-founder of the company or organization. Self-employment is not acceptable.
The company or organization must be established in an eligible country and registered or incorporated at least two years before the call year (before 1 January 2023).
Applicants who have already received an EU or Euratom prize cannot receive a second prize for the same activities.
Rising Innovators: Must be aged under 35 at the start of the call year (born on or after 1 January 1990).
EIT Category: Must have a direct link to the EIT Community or one of the existing Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). This requires a supporting document such as a certificate from an EIT KIC indicating EIT support, a signed agreement for financial support, or a diploma/certificate for completing an EIT Labelled Educational Programme. 'EIT Community’ means the EIT and the active community of individuals and legal entities which benefited or benefit from the EIT support or financial contribution (in line with Article 2(8) of the EIT Regulation), e.g. support through an innovation or business acceleration procedure of any of the EIT KICs, or successful completion of an EIT Labelled Educational Programme.
Applicants eligible for multiple prize categories can only apply to one.
Joint applications are not accepted. Applicants from the same organization must apply separately.
Applicants must register in the Participant Register before the call deadline and be validated by the Central Validation Service (REA Validation), providing documents showing legal status (selecting ‘natural person’) and origin.

Specific Cases and Definitions:

Entities without legal personality may participate if their representatives can undertake legal obligations and offer equivalent guarantees for the protection of EU financial interests.
Applicants from countries negotiating association agreements may participate and receive a prize if negotiations conclude before the award.
Entities subject to EU restrictive measures or EU conditionality measures are not eligible. Currently such measures are in place for Hungarian public interest trusts established under the Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity they maintain (see Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2506, as of 16 December 2022).

4. Financial and Operational Capacity and Exclusion:

Applicants subject to an EU exclusion decision or in situations barring them from receiving EU funding cannot participate, including:
Bankruptcy, winding up, affairs administered by the courts, arrangement with creditors, suspended business activities.
Breach of social security or tax obligations.
Grave professional misconduct, fraud, corruption, links to a criminal organization, money laundering, terrorism-related crimes, child labor, or human trafficking.
Significant deficiencies in complying with obligations under EU contracts, agreements, or prizes.
Irregularities within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Regulation No 2988/95.
Creation under a different jurisdiction to circumvent obligations.
Intentionally resisting an investigation, check, or audit.
Applicants will also be refused if they misrepresented information or were involved in preparing the call, leading to a conflict of interest.

5a. Evaluation and Award: Award Criteria, Scoring, and Thresholds:

Applications will be evaluated against the following criteria:
Breakthrough Innovation: The company or organization founded or co-founded by the applicant is developing a breakthrough innovation, focusing on deep-tech and STEM fields. The applicant should demonstrate what makes the innovation breakthrough.
Impact: The innovation addresses a real need or challenge, with significant benefits for people and/or the planet. The applicant will demonstrate how the company’s or organization’s current performance and growth is driving a positive socio-economic and/or environmental impact, among others, in terms of wellbeing, education, profit, or job creation.
Inspiration: The applicant is an inspiring leader who has played a pivotal role in the success of the company or organization and is a role model empowering other women and girls. The applicant should, for example, highlight her efforts to promote gender balance within the company, organization or beyond, and/or to advocate for innovative initiatives that have positively contributed to gender equality in, e.g., access to finance, networks, product design, education and contributes to a gender-responsive innovation.

Award Criteria:
CriterionMinimum Pass ScoreMaximum Score
Breakthrough Innovation610
Impact610
Inspiration610
Overall (Pass) Scores1830

Maximum points: 30 points.
Individual thresholds: 6/10 points.
Overall threshold: 18 points.
Applications must pass both the individual thresholds AND the overall threshold. The prize will be awarded to the application ranked 1st, 2nd, and 3rd with the best scores in each category. Other applications will be rejected.
The jury’s assessment will be based on Parts A and B of the application form, as well as the video submitted by the applicant.

5b. Evaluation and Award: Submission and Evaluation Processes:

Applications in each category will undergo formal evaluation by a jury.
If there are more than 500 applications in one category, a pre-selection will occur to select the best 500 for jury review.
The pre-selection panel and jury may have different compositions, but jury members may participate in the pre-selection panel.
The pre-selection panel and/or the jury will evaluate each eligible application against the award criteria.
For applications with the same score, a priority order will be determined by weighting the score for Impact (criterion No. 2) by 2 and Inspiration (criterion No. 3) by 1.5.
If ties remain after pre-selection, those applications will proceed to the next evaluation phase.
If ties remain after jury review, those applications will be admitted to hearings.
Up to six best-ranked applications in each category will be invited for a hearing with the jury in Brussels, which may occur remotely.
If ties persist, the prize will be equally divided and awarded to all applications with the same score.
The awarding authority will decide on the prize award based on the jury's evaluation and mandatory checks (ethics review, security scrutiny, legal entity validation, non-exclusion, double funding, and plagiarism).
All applicants will be informed of the evaluation result. Successful applications will be awarded the prize; others will be placed on a reserve list or rejected.
Complaints about the evaluation procedure can be submitted following the deadlines and procedures in the evaluation result letter.

5c. Evaluation and Award: Indicative Timeline for Evaluation:

Deadline for Submission: 25 September 2025 – 17:00 CET (Brussels)
Evaluation: October 2025 - February 2026
Information on Results and Awards: February - May 2026

6. Legal and Financial Set-Up of the Grants:

Specific Conditions:

Payment Arrangements: The prize money will be paid to the prize winners after the award ceremony, provided all requested documents have been submitted.
Communication, Dissemination, and Visibility of Funding:
Prize winners must promote the prize and its results to multiple audiences, including the media and the public.
Communication activities must acknowledge EU support, display the European flag (emblem), and include a funding statement translated into local languages.
The emblem must remain distinct and cannot be modified.
The emblem must be displayed at least as prominently as other logos.
Winners may use the emblem without prior approval but cannot claim exclusive use or appropriate it as a trademark.
Any communication must use factually accurate information and include the following disclaimer:
“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). Neither the European Union nor the awarding authority can be held responsible for them.”
“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Insititute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Neither the European Union nor the awarding authority can be held responsible for them.”

IPR and Rights of Use:

The awarding authority does not obtain ownership of the results produced.
The awarding authority can use non-sensitive information and materials received from the winners for information, communication, dissemination, and publicity purposes.
Photos and videos taken by the awarding authority are their sole property.

Checks, Audits, and Investigations:

The awarding authority, the European Commission, OLAF, EPPO, and the European Court of Auditors may conduct checks, audits, and investigations.

Withdrawal of the Prize and Recovery of Undue Amounts:

The awarding authority may withdraw the prize and recover payments if:
False information, fraud, or corruption was used.
Prize winners were ineligible or should have been excluded.
Prize winners are in serious breach of their obligations.

Rules of Contest:

Application and Evaluation Forms: Available in the Submission System.
Additional Documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 10. European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE)
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 13. General Annexes
HE Programme Guide
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment, and Financial Capacity Assessment
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions
Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

The European Prize for Women Innovators is a Horizon Europe initiative designed to recognize and reward women who have founded or co-founded companies developing breakthrough innovations. The prize aims to increase public awareness of the contributions women make to the innovation ecosystem and to inspire future generations of female scientists, innovators, and tech leaders. The call is structured around three categories, each with specific eligibility criteria, focusing on breakthrough innovation, impact, and the inspirational qualities of the applicants. The application process involves submitting administrative information, a technical description of the innovation, and a short video. A jury evaluates the applications based on predefined criteria, and the winners are expected to promote the prize and their achievements. The initiative seeks to foster a culture that supports women in research, innovation, and entrepreneurship across the EU and associated countries.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicants are women (natural persons) who are founders or co-founders of a company or organization. Applicants to the Rising Innovators category must be aged under 35 at the start of the call year. Applicants to the EIT category must have a direct link to the EIT Community or to one of the existing Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). Self-employment is not acceptable. Joint applications by a group of applicants are not accepted. Applicants from the same organization must apply separately.

Funding Type: This is a recognition prize (HORIZON Recognition Prize).

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity requires a single applicant. Joint applications are not accepted.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): Applicants must be legally residing in an EU Member State, including overseas countries and territories (OCTs), or a country associated with Horizon Europe.

Target Sector: The program targets women entrepreneurs and their innovations across all sectors, with a particular focus on breakthrough innovation, deep-tech, and Science Technology Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) fields. The innovations should address real needs or challenges with significant benefits for people and/or the planet, driving a positive socio-economic and/or environmental impact.

Mentioned Countries: EU Member States, countries associated to Horizon Europe, Hungary (specifically regarding Hungarian public interest trusts established under the Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity they maintain).

Project Stage: The project stage is variable, but the company or organization must be established in an EU Member State including overseas countries and territories, (OCTs) or a country associated to Horizon Europe, and registered or incorporated at least two years before the call year.

Funding Amount: For the Rising Innovators category, the prize is EUR 100,000. For the Women Innovators category, the prize is EUR 220,000. There are three prizes awarded in each category.

Application Type: The application type is an open call.

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a prize.

Application Stages: The application process involves a single stage. If there are more than 500 applications in a category, a pre-selection phase will occur to select the best 500 applications for jury review. The selected applications will then be evaluated by a jury. Up to six of the best-ranked applications in each category will be invited for a hearing with the jury.

Success Rates: The success rate is not explicitly stated, but the prize will be awarded to the top three applications in each category. If there are more than 500 applications, a pre-selection process will narrow down the applications before the jury review.

Co-funding Requirement: There is no mention of a co-funding requirement.

Summary:

The European Prize for Women Innovators is a Horizon Europe initiative that celebrates women entrepreneurs behind game-changing innovations. The prize aims to boost public awareness of the potential, importance, and contribution of women to the EU innovation ecosystem and to create strong role models to inspire more women to become innovators. The prize is awarded annually to women from across the EU and countries associated with Horizon Europe who have transformed their ideas into disruptive innovations that benefit people and the planet.

The 2026 edition is organized jointly by the Agency and the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT). There are three categories: the Women Innovators category and the Rising Innovators category (both funded by the EIC), and the EIT Women Leadership category (funded by the EIT).

To be eligible, applicants must be women (natural persons) legally residing in an EU Member State or a country associated with Horizon Europe. They must be the founder or co-founder of a company or organization established in an eligible country and registered at least two years before the call year. Applicants for the Rising Innovators category must be under 35 years old at the start of the call year, and applicants for the EIT category must have a direct link to the EIT Community.

The application process involves submitting an application form (Parts A and B) and a video message. Applications are evaluated based on three criteria: breakthrough innovation, impact, and inspiration. The deadline for submission is 25 September 2025. The evaluation will take place between October 2025 and February 2026, and the results will be announced between February and May 2026.

The prize money is EUR 100,000 for the Rising Innovators category and EUR 220,000 for the Women Innovators category, with three prizes awarded in each category. The prize winners must promote the prize and its results and acknowledge EU support in their communication activities. The awarding authority retains the right to use non-sensitive information and materials from the winners for information, communication, dissemination, and publicity purposes.