THREE €50,000 PRIZES FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR THE MOST INNOVATIVE PROJECTS TO EMPOWER YOUNG PEOPLE IN A CHANGING ECONOMY
Innovations that take place in a certain location and respond to specific local conditions, challenges and opportunities are often called ‘place-based’.
Why take a place-based approach? Well, all places are different and have different needs, challenges and opportunities. Solutions should respond to these specific local characteristics in order to be successful within that community.
WHAT IS THE COMPETITION LOOKING FOR?
Ideas could include, but are not limited to:
New tech
Initiatives that use new technologies and ways of working to provide opportunities for youth based on local specificities and needs.
entrepreneurship
Ideas that promote and enable youth entrepreneurship and innovation using local assets, particularly among young people who may not otherwise have become innovators.
SKILLS
Ideas responding to current or future requirements in the local community for skills and experience, or ideas developed from locally-available skills and experience.
JOB SECURITY
Solutions to improve the quality of life and financial or social security of young people in irregular work.
ADVICE
Innovations that provide information, advice and guidance to young people so they can navigate their options in the new economy.
LONG-TERM
Creative concepts that will provide young people with long-term projects, prospects and potential career opportunities.
HOW DOES THE COMPETITION WORK?
Application
You must have entered your idea by Friday 27 April 2018, 12:00 (noon) Brussels time.
Judging
Our judging panel will choose 30 of the most promising applications as semi-finalists, who will receive business development support.
Academy
Semi-finalists will be matched with a mentor and invited to a three day academy in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in July 2018 to progress their ideas.
mentoring
With the help of their mentors, the semi-finalists will submit a final detailed business plan to the judges by the end of August 2018. This factsheet contains further information on mentoring.
Awards
Ten finalists will be selected to pitch their projects at the Awards in Brussels in November 2018, where three winners will each be awarded prizes of €50,000 to develop their ideas.
Impact Prize
In 2019 the 30 semi-finalists will have another chance to win €50,000 through the Impact Prize, which is awarded to the project which has demonstrated greatest impact in the 12 months since submitting their detailed business plan.
How To Enter
Submit
The deadline for submitting your innovative RE:THINK LOCAL idea was 27 April 2018 (12:00 noon Brussels time).
Info
You can read the Rules of Contest and check the Frequently Asked Questions.
Next Steps
We will contact entrants who have been selected to attend the Academy, in mid June. Please keep 16 - 18 July free in order to attend.
Keep in touch
To hear about future developments of the competition, including when submissions for 2019 open, sign up to our newsletter.
Social innovator Sabine Biesheuvel contributes to this year’s #diogochallenge as a member of the judging panel. She co-founded @BlueCity010 that works to create an exemplary city for the circular economy, where waste is a valuable building block and outputs become inputs #socinn
We are proud to announce our 30 semi-finalists! Congratulations! We are looking forward to meeting all social innovators and entrepreneurs at the Academy in Cluj next month. Read more in our new newsletter ➡️ https://t.co/ynU2mZgpSD #diogochallenge #socinn
Congratulations to all social innovators and entrepreneurs who have been selected as our semi-finalists! #diogochallenge Find out who they are here: https://t.co/HePRTBDYcd
Everyone who is interested in social innovation and developing their idea into a successful project, please have a look at our brand-new and comprehensive European Social Innovation Competition #toolkit on our website ➡️ https://t.co/llKfhWM1gZ #diogochallenge #socinn