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AI parking monitoring and emission-free construction projects win European Innovation Procurement Awards 2025

Brussels, April 2nd 2025
Summary
  • ›Winners of the 2025 European Innovation Procurement Awards were announced at the EIC Summit in Brussels on 2 April 2025.
  • ›The Innovation Procurement Initiative prize went to CameraCar, an AI camera car system deployed in Prague by start-up Iterait and procured by the city through its company TSK.
  • ›The Net Zero Industry procurement category was won by CABRIO-TRIPTYCH from Belgium, a package of tools to make public construction more circular and measurable.
  • ›Runners up include POSIDON PCP for soil decontamination, EMS LLS for smart grid Living Lab Scheveningen, H2Global for a hydrogen double auction model, and Net Zero Persikan for an all-electric machinery pool in Stockholm.
  • ›Each category awards EUR 75,000 to the winner, with EUR 50,000 and EUR 25,000 for second and third place respectively.
  • ›The awards highlight procurement as a demand-side tool to scale innovation, but claims of large impacts warrant independent evaluation and scrutiny on privacy, vendor lock-in and lifecycle emissions.

European Innovation Procurement Awards 2025: winners and what they mean

The European Innovation Procurement Awards recognise public and private procurement initiatives that use public purchasing power to pull new technologies and services from prototype to deployment. The 2025 winners were announced at the European Innovation Council Summit in Brussels on 2 April 2025. The awards are managed by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, and funded under Horizon Europe. Each winning initiative receives EUR 75 000. Runners up are awarded EUR 50 000 for second place and EUR 25 000 for third place.

Winners and notable runners up

This year the awards emphasised two themes: digital system procurement for municipal services and procurement that supports the Net Zero transition in construction and industry. Below are the headline winners and the initiatives the jury highlighted.

Innovation Procurement Initiative category

Winner - CameraCar:Led by Prague through its municipally owned company TSK, CameraCar deployed an AI driven, camera equipped vehicle solution built by the start-up Iterait to monitor parking zones and road conditions. The system supports license plate recognition, parking violation detection and road condition assessment. According to the submitting authority the deployment halved monitoring costs and improved the acceptance of photographic evidence in enforcement processes. Importantly Prague now owns the vehicles and the underlying technology to preserve operational flexibility and to reduce the risk of vendor lock in.
Runners up in this category:POSIDON PCP from Italy and Spain finished among the runners up. POSIDON used a pre commercial procurement model to develop new, more effective ways to decontaminate industrially polluted soils contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals. EMS LLS from the Netherlands was also a runner up. That project expands the smart electricity grid in the Living Lab Scheveningen using semi autonomous control mechanisms to reduce congestion and improve forecasting and distribution fairness.

Net Zero Industry procurement category

Winner - CABRIO-TRIPTYCH:CABRIO-TRIPTYCH from Belgium was selected for a procurement package aimed at greening public construction projects. The initiative comprises three tools: circular selection criteria for procurement, a planning tool for local authorities to set and track sustainability goals, and technical specifications for circular materials. The package is positioned as a way to make public construction more sustainable and measurable.
Runners up in this category:H2Global from Germany presented an innovative market design for renewable hydrogen based on a double auction mechanism intended to bridge the gap between high production costs and price affordability. Net Zero Persikan from Sweden demonstrated a fully electric machinery pool deployed on a development site in Stockholm to deliver emission free groundworks, presenting a model municipalities can scale to reduce site emissions.
CategoryPositionInitiativeLead / OriginKnown supplier or partnerAward
Innovation Procurement InitiativeWinnerCameraCarPrague, CzechiaIterait (start up)EUR 75 000
Innovation Procurement InitiativeRunner upPOSIDON PCPItaly and SpainConsortia under PCPEUR 50 000 or EUR 25 000 depending on placement
Innovation Procurement InitiativeRunner upEMS LLSThe NetherlandsLiving Lab Scheveningen partnersEUR 50 000 or EUR 25 000 depending on placement
Net Zero Industry ProcurementWinnerCABRIO-TRIPTYCHBelgiumNot specified in announcementEUR 75 000
Net Zero Industry ProcurementRunner upH2GlobalGermanyProject partners in hydrogen marketEUR 50 000 or EUR 25 000 depending on placement
Net Zero Industry ProcurementRunner upNet Zero PersikanSwedenProject partners in StockholmEUR 50 000 or EUR 25 000 depending on placement

Why these awards matter for procurement and innovation

The European Innovation Procurement Awards showcase procurement as a policy instrument that public buyers can use to accelerate uptake of emerging technologies and services. Procurement can act as a demand pull that de risks early commercialisation and creates references for startups and SMEs. The awards are part of a broader EIC programme of prizes and actions intended to encourage authorities across the EU to adopt innovation procurement strategies and to open markets to disruptive solutions.

Pre commercial procurement (PCP):Pre commercial procurement is a procurement model used by public authorities to procure research and development services that are not yet commercially available. It typically funds prototyping and pilot stages and keeps public buyers from locking themselves into a single commercial solution. POSIDON PCP used this approach to stimulate new soil remediation methods.
Net Zero Industry procurement:This category targets procurement that helps achieve the goals of the Net Zero Industry Act. That can include buying low carbon equipment, purchasing circular materials, or procuring services and systems that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The winning CABRIO-TRIPTYCH package focuses on circular procurement criteria and practical tools for municipalities to plan and measure sustainability in construction projects.

Critical notes and practical caveats

The awards are designed to celebrate promising examples, but they are not a substitute for rigorous, independent evaluation of long term impacts. Where the prize announcement cites strong outcomes such as 'monitoring costs reduced by half' or 'improved acceptance of evidence', those claims should be validated through published evaluations and open data when possible. There are also legitimate public concerns that need active management.

Privacy and data protection with camera based systems:Camera systems that perform license plate recognition and other analytics raise privacy and data protection questions. Municipalities must ensure compliance with EU data protection law and with national rules on surveillance. Transparency about what images are stored, how long they are kept, who can access them and the security measures in place is essential.
Vendor lock in and public ownership:The Prague case highlights a typical concern. When a public authority pays for technology it can become dependent on a single supplier if procurement design, intellectual property and operations contracts are not carefully managed. The Prague project reports that the city owns the vehicles and the technology to mitigate that risk. That is a positive design detail but it does not remove the need for contractual safeguards on maintenance, spare parts and interoperability over time.
Claims about emissions and scalability:Projects claiming 'emission free' construction or large reductions in monitoring costs should be assessed across lifecycle emissions, electricity sources and scale economics. An electric machine fleet on a single site reduces local emissions, but overall industry decarbonisation depends on maintenance, battery manufacturing impacts and the source of electricity used to charge equipment.

Wider EU context and funding mechanisms

The EU prizes are run by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, EISMEA, and funded through Horizon Europe. They are part of a wider set of EIC prizes and programmes that include the European Capital of Innovation Awards, the European Prize for Women Innovators and other competitions. The EIC has been expanding its remit to link grant support with investment via the EIC Fund. Procurement remains a complementary demand side tool that can help convert R&D funded by Horizon Europe into deployed services.

Procurement as a policy lever:Public procurement accounts for a significant share of GDP in many Member States. When buyers use procurement to specify performance outcomes rather than detailed technical specifications, they create space for innovators to propose new approaches. That requires capacity in contracting authorities for complex tender design, evaluation and post contract management.

What to watch next

Winning projects and runners up will typically receive mentoring and visibility through EIC channels. The important next step is publication of independent monitoring and evaluation reports. For city scale deployments such as CameraCar and Net Zero Persikan, look for data about operational costs, privacy audits, maintenance models and evidence that solutions scale beyond pilot districts. For tools aimed at changing procurement practice such as CABRIO-TRIPTYCH, watch for uptake by other municipalities and for revisions to procurement templates or technical specifications that show real mainstreaming.

Policymakers should treat these awards as starting points. Procurement can and should be used to accelerate green and digital transitions, but success depends on transparent evaluation, robust contract design, cross public agency collaboration and clear metrics for social and environmental impact.

Further information and contacts

The awards are administered by EISMEA under Horizon Europe. For more details, the EIC and EISMEA websites host the prize rules and lists of finalists. Media or stakeholders seeking more information may contact the EISMEA EUIPA awards mailbox referenced in the public announcement.

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