InnovAid: a new European prize for humanitarian technology

The European Commission launched the first edition of the European Prize for Humanitarian Innovation, dubbed InnovAid, at the European Humanitarian Forum on 21 March 2023. The contest is supported by the European Innovation Council under Horizon Europe and is managed by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, EISMEA. Its stated purpose is to recognise European organisations that have developed technological solutions which improve the quality, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of humanitarian assistance for people affected by crises and natural hazards.

What the prize is and who runs it

InnovAid is presented as a recognition prize rather than a traditional grant programme. The Commission says the award aims to incentivise change, increase visibility for promising solutions, and inspire other humanitarian actors to scale up innovations. The prize is administered under the Horizon Europe framework and is one of the EIC Prizes. EISMEA handles the operational management and a jury of independent experts carries out the assessment and ranking.

Prize structure and amounts

Who could apply

The competition was open to legal entities established in an EU Member State including overseas countries and territories or in a state associated to Horizon Europe. Eligible applicants include humanitarian non-governmental organisations, international organisations, social enterprises and private companies. Organisations that had already received an EU or Euratom prize for the same activities were excluded from winning a second prize for those same activities.

Evaluation criteria

A jury of independent experts evaluated applications against four main criteria. These reflect an emphasis on technological novelty, field-proven performance, affordability for humanitarian contexts, and participatory design with users affected by crises.

Timeline and process

Context and background

The Commission framed InnovAid against a backdrop of rising humanitarian needs, which the EU says are growing in number complexity and severity and outpacing available funding. The prize builds directly on the 2020 EIC Horizon Prize for Affordable High-Tech for Humanitarian Aid. That earlier prize distributed larger sums to category winners under Horizon 2020 and highlighted successful technology interventions in shelter water energy health and mine clearance. InnovAid forms part of the broader EIC prize portfolio under Horizon Europe and aims to accelerate awareness and potential redeployment of solutions at scale.

What the Commission and Commissioners said

The launch included public statements from Commissioners involved in humanitarian and research portfolios highlighting the moral and practical rationale for rewarding innovation that helps reach vulnerable people with limited resources.

Practical advice and limits applicants should note

The prize offers recognition and unrestricted cash awards rather than a procurement contract or a large operational grant. Candidates needed to provide proof that solutions were tested safely and successfully in humanitarian environments and submit a compact application that fits the portal template and page limits. If more than 50 applications were received organisers planned a preselection phase to reduce the set to the top 50 for jury review. Applicants might also be invited to supply communications materials such as short videos and images if they reached finalist status.

A measured view: what InnovAid can and cannot do

The prize provides visibility and an unconditional cash award that can help organisations refine products or cover dissemination costs. That can be useful for social enterprises or NGOs seeking partners and additional funding. But a few structural limits merit attention. Prize sums while useful are small relative to the costs of scaling logistics heavy humanitarian operations in conflict or disaster zones. Recognition alone does not solve procurement barriers regulatory approvals or local maintenance capacity. Achieving widespread adoption typically requires long term field support adaptation to local supply chains and integration with humanitarian standards and digital ecosystems.

Practically this means that InnovAid winners could benefit from symbolic endorsement and a modest cash injection but will need complementary support from donors procurement agencies and operational NGOs to scale in the field. The Commission and EISMEA may promote winners but the route to routine humanitarian deployment is complex and often slow.

Implications for the EU innovation and humanitarian ecosystem

The prize signals continued EU policy interest in channeling research and innovation funding toward humanitarian challenges. It also tightens the interface between EU innovation instruments under Horizon Europe and humanitarian operations led by DG ECHO and field actors. If the prize prompts stronger partnerships between technology developers and humanitarian implementers it could help move promising tools from pilots to broader use.

At the same time the ecosystem should track whether recognition prizes translate into sustained funding flows procurement commitments or standardised deployment models. Without those follow-on steps the visibility from a prize can be short lived.

Previous EIC activity on humanitarian tech

The InnovAid prize builds on the EIC Horizon Prize on Affordable High-Tech for Humanitarian Aid awarded in 2020 under Horizon 2020. That earlier competition gave larger category awards to five solutions covering shelter water energy health and an open category. Winners then included projects that applied sensor networks solar lanterns 3D printing and drones in humanitarian contexts. The 2020 competition illustrated both the potential of technology and the follow-on work needed to operationalise solutions in varied field conditions.

Key documents and contact

The InnovAid rules of contest and application template were published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Questions and support were handled through the portal IT helpdesk and the call’s contact mailbox managed by EISMEA. The prize was positioned within the EIC prize portfolio and the broader Horizon Europe work programme for European Innovation Ecosystems.

Bottom line

InnovAid is a targeted recognition effort by the EU to surface technological solutions that improve humanitarian assistance. It can amplify promising innovations and confer valuable credibility. Stakeholders should recognise the limits of prize funding for scaling operations and press for follow-on mechanisms that address procurement training standards and long term maintenance in crisis-affected contexts. For applicants the prize offered a practical channel to gain visibility and modest unrestricted funds provided they submitted a concise evidence-based entry and demonstrated real field testing and user engagement.