After the success of the forerunners of the competition in 2011 and 2014, the Commission intends to continue its drive to spotlight women researchers who have brought outstanding innovations to the market.

The prizes will boost the public awareness of the contributions that female researchers bring to the field of entrepreneurship and will encourage entrepreneurial women to become innovators.

Although women are more and more active in research, there are still too few women creating innovative enterprises.The Commission plans to award up to three “EU Prizes for Women Innovators” following a European-wide contest.

Three prizes will be awarded in Spring 2016:

• 1st prize: €100 000
• 2nd prize: €50 000
• 3rd prize: €30 000

The prizes are addressed to women who have founded or co-founded a company and who themselves or through their company have benefitted from EU funding related to Research and Innovation.

The prizes will not reward research or innovation proposed for the future, but only successes that have been already achieved by the candidate