Social Innovation Tournament
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.
The prizes are awarded by a jury of specialists from the academic and business worlds. The Audience Choice will be awarded by the public, based on their votes.
The tournament runs in two rounds. A Selection Committee comprised mainly of EIB Group experts in innovation, the environment, and other relevant disciplines selects 15 finalists. The finalists participate in a tailor-made training programme (Mentoring Bootcamp, e-training on pitching and communication techniques, Rehearsal Bootcamp) to provide them with the necessary guidance to finalise their proposals and prepare them for the Pitching Competition where all the finalists have to present and defend their project to a jury of social innovation specialists. In 2021, the Final Event was held on 7 October in Lisbon, Portugal and the winners were..
Finalists from all SIT editions become members of the SIT Alumni Network. As members, they benefit from numerous (i) training and capacity building opportunities such as the Scaling Executive Programme, a full-time executive training course focused on scaling, pitching and engagement with investors, (ii) acess to human and financial resources (e.g. a network of EIB Group experts and SITolarships, an innovation grants programme) and (iii) to recognition and visibility (e.g. speak/participate at conferences around Europe to network with investors, venture philanthropists and foundations who can help their project to scale). Furthermore, to explore synergies and complementarities with the growing community of social entrepreneurs supported by the Institute through the SIT, the Institute is supporting the first social incubator in the north of Portugal.
