EIC and EIT name 18 semi-finalists for the 2026 European Prize for Women Innovators

Brussels, February 17th 2026

Summary

›The European Commission announced 18 semi-finalists for the 2026 European Prize for Women Innovators across three categories.
›Winners will be unveiled at the European Innovation Council Summit in June 2026.
›The prize, run by the EIC and EIT under Horizon Europe, combines recognition with visibility for women founders in deep tech and innovation.
›Entries span health, climate, space, fintech for sustainability, and industrial tech, with many solutions still awaiting broader validation and market adoption.

A selective shortlist that showcases promise and highlights the work still ahead

The European Commission has released the list of 18 semi-finalists for the 2026 European Prize for Women Innovators. The cohort features founders and leaders whose companies span health diagnostics, sustainable materials, climate and biodiversity monitoring, space logistics, advanced cooling for electronics, and supply chain transparency. The winners will be announced at the European Innovation Council Summit in June 2026. Selection was made by an independent jury, with the initiative positioned as a flagship component of Horizon Europe to support inclusiveness and excellence in innovation.

This year’s line-up includes early-stage platforms alongside more mature ventures that have already navigated regulatory regimes or landed institutional partnerships. Many claims are ambitious. Several solutions appear to be in pilot or pre-scale phases and will need independent evidence, certifications, or procurement traction before the impact narratives are borne out in practice.

What the prize is and how it works

The European Prize for Women Innovators is jointly presented by the European Innovation Council and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. It aims to increase the visibility of women founders and leaders, expand access to opportunities, and provide role models. The competition is open to women in EU Member States and countries associated to Horizon Europe. The EIT Women Leadership Award draws from the EIT Community.

Categories and eligibility:There are three categories. EIC Women Innovators for founders or co-founders of successful companies established in an EU Member State or Associated Country. EIC Rising Innovators for outstanding innovators under 35. EIT Women Leadership for exceptional women from the EIT Community. Applicants apply as individuals, not as a legal entity, and must be founders or co-founders of an organisation established at least two years before the call year. Rising Innovators must be under 35 at the start of the call year.

How entries are judged:Entries are assessed on three criteria. Breakthrough innovation with emphasis on deep tech and STEM. Impact, meaning the innovation addresses a significant need and delivers benefits for people or planet. Inspiration, where the applicant demonstrates leadership and provides a relatable role model. An independent expert jury selects winners.

Prize amounts and timeline:According to the EIC call information, the EIC Women Innovators category awards 100 000, 70 000 and 50 000 euro to the top three. The EIC Rising Innovators awards 50 000, 30 000 and 20 000 euro. The EIT Women Leadership Award awards 50 000 euro to the winner and 30 000 and 20 000 euro to two runners-up. Winners are to be announced at the EIC Summit in June 2026 after evaluations running from January to March 2026.

Category	Who it targets	Top prize (EUR)
EIC Women Innovators	Founders or co-founders of established EU or Associated Country companies	100 000
EIC Rising Innovators	Innovators under 35	50 000
EIT Women Leadership	Exceptional women from the EIT Community	50 000

Who is on the semi-finalist list

The 18 semi-finalists are split evenly across the three categories. Below is a structured view of each nominee and the problem they address. Where available, additional context from company materials or public sources is included. As with any competition shortlists, marketing narratives are prominent and not a proxy for independent technical or clinical validation.

EIC Rising Innovators

Carin Lightner (Switzerland), co-founder and CEO of Enantios. The company is introducing Raman optical activity measurement tools for chiral molecules and biologics, aiming to reduce reliance on chiral-HPLC, crystallisation, and reference standards. The pitch is faster structural characterisation of complex molecules for drug discovery and manufacturing.

Raman optical activity in drug development:Raman optical activity is a vibrational spectroscopy technique sensitive to molecular chirality. It can reveal stereochemistry without derivatisation. If implemented robustly, ROA could streamline analysis of enantiomeric purity and conformers. The trade-offs are instrument complexity, signal-to-noise constraints on certain sample types, and the need for rigorous calibration against reference methods for regulatory acceptance.

Maria Majellaro (Italy), co-founder and CSO of Celtarys. She is developing a platform to accelerate and simplify drug discovery workflows by replacing slow or hazardous techniques with safer, faster alternatives. The work is described as gaining interest from large pharma while also advancing women and youth in science.

Dominique Cirkel (the Netherlands), co-founder of Spheer. She offers an AI-powered earth observation platform that converts satellite data into accessible, policy-ready maps. The product targets biodiversity tracking, water management, climate adaptation, and urban planning. Company materials claim model training in minutes within a browser, seamless GIS integration, and iterative improvements over time.

Sentinel-2 time series and geo-foundation models:Spheer says its foundation model is trained on years of Sentinel-2 imagery at up to 10 metre resolution and analyses full-year time series to capture seasonal dynamics. This design can improve robustness over single-scene classification. It still faces the usual caveats. Cloud cover, mixed pixels, ground truth scarcity, and domain shift. The firm cites major speed gains and accuracy comparable to expert mapping, but independent evaluations and published benchmarks would clarify performance claims and generalisability.

AI Act compliance claims in EO platforms:Spheer positions its foundation model as a General Purpose AI Model without systemic risk and its app as a Limited Risk AI System. It pledges a model card and in-product AI transparency. These are consistent with the EU AI Act direction, but the compliance bar includes documented risk management, data governance, and post-market monitoring. Publishing model documentation is a start, not the finish line.

Judit Giró Benet (Spain), founder of The Blue Box. She proposes a simple urine-based test intended to complement breast cancer screening. The aim is to detect cases that conventional screening might miss and to reach underserved populations. As with all novel diagnostics, pathway to clinical adoption will hinge on peer-reviewed sensitivity and specificity data, regulatory approvals, and payer acceptance.

Marta Oliveira (Belgium), co-founder and COO of ATMOS Space Cargo. Her team is developing reusable reentry capsules to return materials from orbit, supporting in-orbit research and potential manufacturing. The thesis mirrors a broader microgravity manufacturing narrative that depends on reliable logistics, clear product-market fits, and customer economics that justify the cost of space-based processes.

Montserrat Vilarrubí Porta (Spain), co-founder and COO of UniSCool. The company targets overheating in electronics with a cooling solution to boost performance at lower energy costs. In-chip or advanced thermal management carries significant promise for AI and data centres, but scaling from lab demos to heterogeneous, high-power-density real systems is a known execution challenge in this market.

EIC Women Innovators

Judit Camargo Sanromà (Spain), founder and CEO of Roka Furadada. The company develops photo-adaptive UV actives for sunscreens that convert from UVB to UVA absorbers under sunlight and claim not to degrade like conventional filters. The proposition combines stronger photoprotection with reduced environmental impact on marine ecosystems.

Photo-adaptive UV filters and regulatory hurdles:Photoactivation that shifts absorption spectra could extend UVA protection and durability. Still, topical actives face rigorous safety assessments, photostability testing, and region-specific cosmetics regulations. Commercial impact depends on formulation compatibility, consumer acceptance, and reef-safe standards that vary across jurisdictions.

Sónia Ferreira (Portugal), founder of BestHealth4U. The company designs bio-based skin adhesives that aim to reduce irritation from long-term use and to improve patient comfort. Its product range includes biomaterials and remote wound monitoring features under the adhesivAI brand. Success will depend on clinical performance, skin tolerability across diverse patient groups, and hospital procurement cycles.

Elena Heber (Germany), co-founder and Managing Director of HelloBetter. The firm provides clinically validated digital therapies for mental health and is developing AI-supported tools. Germany’s DiGA pathway has enabled reimbursements for certain digital therapeutics, but sustained outcomes, dropout rates, and integration with clinicians remain critical determinants of real-world impact.

Digital therapeutics in Europe:Digital therapeutics deliver condition-specific interventions via software, often grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy. In Germany, the DiGA framework allows prescription and reimbursement for approved apps. Expansion across EU markets requires navigation of heterogeneous reimbursement systems and evidence standards.

Hanne Callewaert (Belgium), co-founder and CEO of AstriVax Therapeutics. The company is developing next-generation vaccine platforms aiming for better efficacy, affordability, and access for prevention and treatment. Vaccine platforms must demonstrate robust immunogenicity, safety in clinical trials, and manufacturability at scale while addressing access in low-resource settings.

Katerina Spranger (Moldova/UK), founder and CEO of Oxford Heartbeat. The company uses AI planning software to make complex neurovascular surgeries safer, particularly for brain aneurysm treatment. A first-of-its-kind clinical trial is underway with NHS trusts to gather gold-standard evidence for software as a medical device.

Software as a medical device and clinical evidence:PreSize Neurovascular is being evaluated in a registered trial with a target of 100 patients. For AI decision-support, regulators expect validated performance claims, human oversight, and post-market surveillance. Adoption hinges on proven patient outcome improvements, not just workflow efficiency.

Susana Sanchez (Spain), CSO and co-founder of Moa Foodtech. The team converts food industry by-products into microbial biomass and functional ingredients using AI-guided fermentation. The pitch is a circular, lower-cost path to alternative proteins and functional ingredients. Scaling entails process economics, regulatory classification, and formulators’ willingness to reformulate at industrial scale.

AI-guided fermentation of upcycled feedstocks:Moa says its proprietary AI selects optimal strains and process parameters for each by-product stream and claims large reductions in R&D time and cost. Translating lab-scale wins into consistent, large-scale production is where many bioprocess firms encounter variability, capex constraints, and margin pressure.

EIT Women Leadership

Ella Frances Cullen (Portugal), co-founder and CMO of Minespider. The platform builds Digital Product Passports and Battery Passports using blockchain and AI to improve traceability, regulatory compliance, and circularity across complex supply chains. The team emphasises readiness for EU regulations such as the Battery Regulation and the forthcoming Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation.

What is a Digital Product Passport:A Digital Product Passport is a structured data container that travels with a product through its life cycle. It records provenance, materials, carbon data, and end-of-life instructions. In the EU, passports are intended to support repairability, recycling, and due diligence requirements. The hard part is multi-tier supplier participation and trustworthy data entry at scale.

Madeleine Gielens (the Netherlands), founder of MaGie Creations. She upcycles brewer’s spent grains into functional food ingredients, including a natural emulsifier with higher nutritional value than conventional alternatives, and a broader portfolio that supports clean-label product design.

Neide Vieira (Portugal), co-founder and COO of IPLEXMED. The company’s NexaGuard platform combines nucleic acid specificity with graphene-based sensors for rapid bacterial infection detection and antimicrobial resistance profiling in about 20 minutes. It is designed for both clinical settings and at-home monitoring. Clinical validation, usability in uncontrolled environments, and integration into care pathways will determine uptake.

Graphene biosensors in diagnostics:Graphene’s electrical properties enable highly sensitive detection in compact devices. Pairing it with sequence-specific capture can approximate lab-grade performance in portable formats. The challenge is reproducible sensor fabrication, sample prep robustness, and ensuring results translate across real-world patient variability.

Sorina Uleia (Romania), founder and CEO of Recycllux. She proposes an AI-driven system to convert satellite observations into verifiable coastal cleanup operations with community participation. For municipal and private clients, the promise is traceable impact. Verification standards and prevention strategies will be as important as cleanup throughput.

Stefania Raimondo (Italy), co-founder of Navhetec. The company extracts plant-derived nanostructures with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties from citrus juice using a patented method. It focuses on stability and bioavailability for health products. Regulatory classification and clinical substantiation will shape product claims and market access.

Tali Feldman Sivan (Israel), co-founder of Meala FoodTech. She focuses on clean-label functional proteins for plant-based meats and eggs. The value proposition is shorter ingredient lists, cost stability, and improved texture. The category has recalibrated from hype to fundamentals. Functionality in specific applications, manufacturing cost, and consumer price sensitivity now dominate the discussion.

Quick reference: the 18 semi-finalists

Name	Country	Company or project	Focus area
Carin Lightner	Switzerland	Enantios	ROA-based analysis of chiral molecules and biologics
Maria Majellaro	Italy	Celtarys	Safer and faster drug discovery workflows
Dominique Cirkel	Netherlands	Spheer	EO and geospatial AI for environmental monitoring
Judit Giró Benet	Spain	The Blue Box	Urine-based breast cancer screening support
Marta Oliveira	Belgium	ATMOS Space Cargo	Reusable reentry capsules for in-orbit R&D
Montserrat Vilarrubí Porta	Spain	UniSCool	Advanced cooling for electronics
Judit Camargo Sanromà	Spain	Roka Furadada	Photo-adaptive UV actives for sunscreens
Sónia Ferreira	Portugal	BestHealth4U	Bio-based medical skin adhesives and remote monitoring
Elena Heber	Germany	HelloBetter	Digital therapies for mental health
Hanne Callewaert	Belgium	AstriVax Therapeutics	Next-generation vaccine platforms
Katerina Spranger	Moldova/UK	Oxford Heartbeat	AI planning for neurovascular surgery
Susana Sanchez	Spain	Moa Foodtech	AI-guided fermentation of upcycled by-products
Ella Frances Cullen	Portugal	Minespider	Digital Product and Battery Passports
Madeleine Gielens	Netherlands	MaGie Creations	Ingredients from brewer’s spent grains
Neide Vieira	Portugal	IPLEXMED	Graphene-based rapid diagnostics for infections and AMR
Sorina Uleia	Romania	Recycllux	AI-enabled marine cleanup operations
Stefania Raimondo	Italy	Navhetec	Plant-derived nanostructures for health products
Tali Feldman Sivan	Israel	Meala FoodTech	Clean-label functional proteins for plant-based foods

Context: where this prize sits in the EU innovation landscape

The prize aligns with the European Innovation Agenda’s objective to improve inclusiveness and excellence in innovation. The EIC has positioned itself as one of Europe’s largest public backers of deep tech, offering blended finance and equity through the EIC Fund. The EIT operates Knowledge and Innovation Communities that connect universities, research centres, and industry around thematic areas from health to raw materials. By combining brands and channels, the prize aims to broaden recognition of women leaders across the EIC and EIT ecosystems.

Prizes are not grants and do not directly finance R&D. They offer visibility and modest non-dilutive funding to a few winners. For most semi-finalists, the decisive test will be measured traction. Regulatory clearances such as CE marking for diagnostics or medical software. Real-world evidence beyond pilot studies. Scalable manufacturing for biotech and materials. And enterprise sales into public services for geospatial and sustainability platforms. Without these, impact narratives remain aspirational.

Claims and caveats to watch

The shortlist is full of bold ambitions. Some firms reference speed, accuracy, and cost savings without detailing methodology or independent audits. Others target heavily regulated domains where adoption can take years. A few operate in categories that have already moved past the peak of inflated expectations and now face unit economics and margin pressure.

Evidence thresholds differ by sector:Digital mental health tools need clinical evidence and payer integration. Space logistics ventures must prove routine, reliable reentry and demand for microgravity-made products. Advanced cooling must integrate into diverse chip and data centre architectures. Supply chain passport systems hinge on supplier onboarding and data integrity through to end-of-life.

Regulatory alignment is necessary but not sufficient:Citing readiness for the EU AI Act, the EU Battery Regulation, or cosmetics safety rules does not guarantee adoption. Compliance is an entry ticket. Market share follows once users confirm that solutions work better and cheaper than incumbents, and procurement risk is acceptable.

What happens next

The jury will complete evaluations by March 2026, with winners expected during the EIC Summit in June 2026. Regardless of outcomes, the semi-finalists have secured a spotlight that often helps with hiring, pilots, and investor conversations. The more consequential step is converting visibility into verifiable impact over the next 12 to 24 months.

Practical milestones to track:For diagnostics and digital therapeutics. Regulatory approvals, peer-reviewed outcomes, and reimbursement decisions. For climate and biodiversity monitoring. Third-party validation against ground truth and paid public sector deployments. For industrial and materials firms. Certifications, supply contracts, and consistent performance at production scale. For supply chain traceability. Onboarding of multi-tier suppliers and alignment with Digital Product Passport technical specifications as they mature.

Background of the prize

Launched in 2011, the European Prize for Women Innovators has featured hundreds of women founders and leaders whose work aims to deliver economic and societal impact while inspiring girls and women to pursue innovation careers. The current format reflects expanded collaboration between the EIC and the EIT under Horizon Europe, with nine monetary awards distributed across three categories. The winners are selected by an independent expert jury.