The Social Innovation Tournament recognises and supports the best European social entrepreneurs. It promotes innovative ideas and rewards initiatives that contribute to creating social, ethical or environmental impact. Typically, it covers projects in the areas of education, healthcare, the environment, circular economy, inclusion, job creation, ageing and many more. The winning projects in the General Category and the Special Category will be awarded a first or second prize of €75 000 and €30 000 respectively, and an Audience Choice Award of €10 000. In 2022, the Special Category prizes will go to projects focusing on the blue and green economy.

This is a call for proposals to organise and manage a call for projects dedicated to young people (15-24) resident in territories that have characteristics to be eligible for the Just Transition Fund.

This call is looking for ideas that allow ‘less exposed people’ to benefit from the green transition. In their ‘project proposals teens have to: a) identify ‘less exposed people’ and b) develop ideas to increase their participation to green transition, c) explain how those people will be involved in projects and d) describe how they will measure participation and results. Projects could take different forms, e.g. from setting-up of a participatory process to testing concrete solutions. They could take place in physical or virtual spaces, like in schools, the neighbourhood, or digital platforms. The maximum duration of projects that teens can propose is twelve months’.

Earth Observation (EO) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for SDGs Innovation Programme will support the development of innovative solutions that can disrupt hunger. Led by the World Food Programme Innovation Accelerator and the European Space Agency Φ-lab, the programme aims to accelerate EO and AI breakthroughs that can help end the unacceptable reality that 1 in 10 people worldwide are going hungry. The joint programme is ‘searching for cutting-edge innovations that use EO and AI technologies to address the challenges that WFP faces in its operations, while striving for business viability and industry leadership’. Selected startups will receive up to €90k in funding to test their solutions.

A $1 billion European initiative backed by the European Commission, European Investment Bank and Breakthrough Energy, which was set up in 2015 by Bill Gates to invest in innovations that can deliver a world with net-zero emissions. The support fund will support green technologies specifically in the areas of: clean hydrogen; sustainable aviation fuels; direct air capture; and long-duration energy storage.

The European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) call is to build a new sustainable innovation partnership to strengthen Europe’s Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSI). The Call for Proposals invites consortia of organisations and CCSI industry and sectoral leaders bringing together education, research and business to put forward their vision and strategy for EIT Culture & Creativity, the new Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) that will drive the competitiveness and sustainable development of Europe’s CCSI. With the possibility to leverage more funds from the private and public sector, approximately EUR 300 million of funding under Horizon Europe isavailable for two new EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities to be launched during the 2021-2027 EU funding period.

The European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator supports individual Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), in particular startups and spinout companies to develop and scaleup game-changing innovations. In some cases small mid-caps (up to 500 employees) are supported. The EIC Accelerator provides substantial financial support with: grant funding (non-dilutive) of up to €2.5 million for innovation development costs; investments (direct equity investments) of up to €15 million managed by the EIC Fund for scale up and other relevant costs. You can apply for EIC Accelerator funding at any time through the EIC platform.