CIHEAM Youth Innovation Award 2024 (€10,000 grant)

The CIHEAM launched the Youth Innovation Award in 2022 to reward innovative solutions, designed and implemented by young people, to accelerate green and blue transition processes towards more sustainable, inclusive and equitable food systems in the Mediterranean (SFS Med). The 2024 edition is launched with the support of three partners who share common objectives and a common vision for the Mediterranean, namely, the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), the Mediterranean Universities Union (UNIMED) and the Union of Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises (BusinessMed). The CIHEAM Youth Innovation Award for Green and Blue Transition in the Mediterranean will reward an innovative solution (scientific or entrepreneurial product/service) at least in the pilot phase, developed by a Mediterranean young woman or man aged under 39 years and implemented in a country of the region. The innovation must demonstrate its ability to contribute to the environmental, social and economic sustainability of Mediterranean food systems.

Award of CIHEAM Youth Innovation

• The selected awardee will receive a financial grant of €10000, a CIHEAM medal and a Certificate.
• Other recognitions will also be awarded in the form of a one-year scholarship for a master’s degree in open innovation and youth entrepreneurship at CIHEAM Bari; and in the form of an internship in one of the partner companies.

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Eligibility

• Applicants must be young Mediterranean, aged not more than 39 years;
• Applications should propose an innovative solution (as an individual or on behalf of a team/startup), at least in a pilot phase to be implemented in an area of the Mediterranean.

Selection Criteria for CIHEAM Youth Innovation

The Award will recompense an innovative entrepreneurial solution, able to generate technological, scientific, economic or social impacts (job placement) and to demonstrate:

• Innovative and disruptive characteristics in comparison with existing ones;
• Quantitative and qualitative innovative contribution to the environmental, social and economic sustainability of Mediterranean Food Systems;
• Feasibility and measurable sustainability;
• Scale-up potential, reproducibility, etc.;
• Readiness of the innovation solution (RTL)

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Application

The Award ceremony will take place on the occasion of a CIHEAM special session held during the ECOMONDO – The Green Technology Expo, one of the most important fairs in the world dedicated to green and circular economy hosted in Rimini, Italy, on 5-8 November, 2024.

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