What was the European Social Innovation Competition 2016?
Following the refugee crisis, the large number of refugees and migrants, often vulnerable individuals, presented a challenge to the EU both in terms of their immediate reception and longer-term integration. It was funded by the European Commission.
The ‘Integrated Futures’ challenge prize focused on innovative approaches to build inclusive communities and realise the potential contribution of refugees and migrants.
Three prizes of €50,000 were awarded to the winning teams at the awards ceremony on 27 October 2016 in Brussels.
Impact Prize Winner
In 2016, an Impact Prize was also awarded to the 2015 semi-finalist able to demonstrate clear social impact: 2016: Love Your Waste (France) impact prize winner Love Your Waste is a social enterprise fighting food waste. It works with canteens in companies, schools, and hospitals, collecting biowaste which is transformed into renewable energy. Since April 2015 they have recycled over 137 tonnes of food waste as well as carrying out extensive education programmes to help people understand and prevent waste.
1,095 ideas...
were received from 36 different countries during the 2016 edition of the competition
Italy, Spain and Romania...
were the three countries that submitted the most entries
Employment was a very popular focus...
for the entrants to the 2016 prize, with a number of innovative digital solutions making it through to semi-finalist stage
- Jeffrey Andreoni, Options FoodLab, Greece
- Josephine Goube, TechFugees, UK
- Corinne Gray, United Nations’ High Commission for Refugees
- Maja Grcic, TakecareBnB, The Netherlands
- Ida Jeng, Refunite, Denmark
- Agnieszka Kosowicz, Polish Migration Forum, Poland
- Robert Kozma, Grupa 484, Serbia
- Inge Missmahl, Ipso, Germany
- Nathaneal Molle, Singa, France
- Medhin Paolos, Rete G2, Italy
- Ernest Radal, Mobilearn, Sweden
- Zuzana Stevulova, Human Rights League, Slovakia