• Social Innovation Tournament selects and rewards Europe’s best impact entrepreneurs.
  • The 15 impact ventures shortlisted aim to generate social, ethical, or environmental impact with their innovative business ideas.
  • The winning projects in the General Category and Special Category will be awarded a first or second prize of €100 000 and €40 000 respectively.

Europe’s 15 best social innovators will compete at the grand finale of the 12th European Investment Bank Institute Social Innovation Tournament, which will be held in Stockholm on 28 September under the auspices of EIB Vice-President Thomas Östros.

The finalist start-ups at the annual tournament can win prizes for their social, ethical, or environmental impact innovation idea. The innovators selected come from ten countries — Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Malta, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

Among this year’s finalists are BRAINTRIP (Malta), which is developing an AI-powered dementia test, HUSMUS (Sweden), an AI-powered marketplace that drives fairer access to homes, and WE DO SOLAR (Germany), which is installing at-home solar solutions for balconies or garden fences. Click here or scroll down to see the full list of this year’s 15 finalists.

They compete for five prizes: General Category and Special Category 1st and 2nd Prizes of €100 000 and €40 000, respectively, and an Audience Choice Award of €10 000. This year, the Special Category Prizes are for projects developing solutions for sustainable cities and communities.

The tournament is held each year in a different EU capital. The prizes are awarded by a jury of specialists from the academic and business worlds. Selected in May from almost 300 applicants, the finalists participate in a tailor-made training programme before presenting their project to a jury of social innovation specialists and defending it.

The Spark Moments event, where finalists will pitch their project to the public, and the Awards Dinner will take place on 28 September at Fotografiska in Stockholm, the Contemporary Museum of Photography, Art and Culture. Stay tuned to find out about this year’s winners and register here to attend the tournament and the award ceremony in person in Stockholm or virtually.

Launched in 2012 in Luxembourg, the SIT has rewarded dozens of impact entrepreneurs from all over Europe, helping them scale their impact notably through additional EU and private investor funding.

Background information

The EIB Institute was set up within the EIB Group (European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund) to promote and support social, cultural and academic initiatives with European stakeholders and the public at large. It is a key pillar of the EIB Group’s community and citizenship engagement.

Annex: Projects Selected for EIB Institute Social Innovation Tournament Final

AIDROLYST by C2Cat — Aidrolyst is a global breakthrough in enabling green hydrogen. It develops high-performance, custom-made catalysts for hydrogen production and storage. (Netherlands)

BETTAF!SH - BettaF!sh — tastes like tuna, made from seaweed. Who knew saving the sea could be so yummy! (Germany)

BRAINTRIP — Braintrip is a non-invasive, electroencephalogram-based, AI-powered dementia test worthy of the 21st century. (Malta)

DIAMENS — One in ten women suffers from endometriosis. Diamens is the world's first at-home test kit for easy, pain-free diagnosis of endometriosis. Identify your pain. Period. (Austria)

GRIBOUILLI — Gribouilli is the first professional association of babysitters and nannies. It is empowering a largely invisible community of immigrant women whose employment is precarious. (France)

HUSMUS — Husmus is an AI-powered marketplace that drives fairer access to homes. We create and provide customisable, affordable insurance that enables all renters to access homes without financial barriers. (Sweden)

MONUMENTI APERTI by Imago Mundi — Since 1997, Monumenti Aperti has offered global expertise to communities ready to enhance their cultural heritage, helping them to raise awareness to foster their local growth. (Italy)

MUNEVO — Munevo DRIVE is a control system for power wheelchairs based on smart glasses. It allows people without hand function to become independently mobile using simple head movements. (Germany)

SMART FIBER by FIBSEN — Ending water scarcity with smart sensing to secure our future. (Spain)

SOCIALCARD — With SocialCard, you can donate the cash value of unused loyalty points directly to people experiencing homelessness. Turn your cashback into “cashforward” and go from pocket change to real change! (Austria)

SOPHIA CHATBOT — “Sophia” is a 24/7 digital companion helping survivors of domestic violence remain confident and aware as they take action to save their own lives. (Switzerland)

STUTTER STARS (formerly FLUENCY FRIENDS) by SAY IT Labs — Stutter Stars is the world’s first interactive video game for people who stutter. Helping improve communication — anytime, anywhere. (Belgium)

SUMM AI — SUMM AI is the “Google Translate for easy language”: Our tool makes complex text easy to understand for everyone at the click of a button. (Germany)

VEMOTION by Reactive Robotics — VEMOTION is a robotic assistance system for mobilisation in intensive care units. It helps speed up patient recovery, reduce stress on nurses, and alleviate the problems of understaffing. Because YOU care! (Germany)

WE DO SOLAR — We Do Solar offers an at-home solar solution that’s easy to install on balconies or garden fences. It generates green energy to power your household devices, reducing your energy bills by up to 25% — all while helping the planet by saving CO2. (Germany)