Winner of the 2019 Innovation Radar Prize announced

The European Commission has awarded prizes to Europe’s most promising innovations emerging from EU funded research and innovation projects. SUPSI from Switzerland won the 2019 Innovation Radar Prize for their lead role in developing robotic tech capable of executing repair tasks in harsh industrial environments.

The awards ceremony took place at the Research & Innovation Days on 26 September 2019 in Brussels. In addition to the Grand Prix prize, four other EU-funded innovators also secured prizes at the awards ceremony.

Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said:

The Innovation Radar continues to demonstrate the excellence of technology and science projects in Europe which the EU is proud to fund. EU funding, such as Horizon 2020 helps support these projects to the benefit of all Europeans.   

Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, said:

This year’s Innovation Radar highlights some of the excellent and high-potential projects that are funded by the EU. I congratulate the winners in each of the categories. The EU will continue to champion the innovation and expertise which is found across Europe. 

Winners were also announced in each of the four following categories:

• The prize for Tech for Society, which recognises technologies impacting society and citizens, was awarded to EyeControl from Israel for developing a wearable device to help individuals affected by ALS, stroke and traumatic brain injuries who cannot speak to communicate on the basis of eye movement.
• The prize for Innovative Science, which recognizes cutting-edge science underpinning tomorrow’s technological advances, was awarded to Oslo University Hospital from Norway for their work to bring Lumiblast, a minimally-invasive clinical treatment for cancer cells in hard to reach areas such as brain cancers, closer to clinical use.
• The prize for Industrial & Enabling Tech, which recognises the next generation of tech and components supporting industry, was awarded to Transilvania University of Brasov from Romania for developing a software framework which enables personalised medicine applications to use Deep Learning in clinical workflows while still protecting the personal data of patients.
• The prize for Women-led innovations, which recognises dynamic women developing and leading great innovations with EU-funding, was awarded to SUPSI from Switzerland, which also won the Grand Prix prize (described above). This project is led by Anna Valente, the head of the Automation, Robotics and Machines Laboratory at SUPSI-DTI.

About the Innovation Radar Prize

The Innovation Radar is a European Commission initiative, which identifies high-potential innovations and innovators in EU-funded research and innovation projects. 36 of the best EU-funded innovators were identified to compete in four categories for the Innovation Radar Prize 2019. These SMEs, university teams, spinoffs and start-ups reflect the diversity of EU-funded research and innovation and come from every corner of Europe.

The first stage of the competition took place over 4 weeks when the public could vote on the Futurium website for the innovators and innovations on the longlist that impressed them the most. Over 40.000 votes were cast by the public and selected the 12 finalists. The “final” took place in Brussels, where a jury of 5 decided the winners on the basis of a 3 minute pitch delivered during a special pitching session at the R&I Days 2019.

More on the Innovation Radar

The European Commission’s Innovation Radar is about finding excellence across all the EU funded research and innovation projects. It identifies high potential innovations and the key innovators behind them in projects that have received investment from Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation programme. So far, more than 2000 innovative organisations have been included in the Innovation Radar.

In 2014 the European Commission’s DG CONNECT started collecting a broad set of data about the innovative outputs of EU-funded Research and Innovation projects. Using a model developed with the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission has been analysing this data to extract insights and intelligence about the best innovations and innovators. Potential innovations and innovators are then identified with the help of experts. The Innovation Radar also provides guidance and support during the project duration to help the innovation reach the market.

Note on the participation of Switzerland, Israel and Norway in EU research programmes

Researchers and organisations from associated countries to Horizon 2020, including Switzerland, Israel and Norway, are able to fully participate in Horizon 2020, the European Union’s research and innovation funding programme, on equal terms with entities from EU Member States and other associated countries.

Article Source: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/winner-2019-innovation-radar-prize-announced