The European Commission announces the winners of the 2020 European Social Innovation Competition

BRUSSELS, Nov. 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the European Commission announces the Winners of the 2020 European Social Innovation Competition.

The three winning projects from the 2020 "Reimagine Fashion" Competition will each receive 50,000€ for demonstrating outstanding potential to change behaviours around sustainable fashion. The 2020 winners are:

-  resortecs® (Belgium)
A start-up that has developed dissolvable stitching thread and heat-dismountable rivets, helping simplify the process of reusing and recycling textile products.

-  Snake (Croatia)
A digital commerce platform that enables users to wear limitless outfits in augmented reality, thus helping to change the way fashion is consumed.

-  WhyWeCraft: Cultural Sustainability in Fashion (Romania)
A legal support mechanism for craftspeople and designers. The project is empowering those who are maintaining traditional practices, by opening up access to otherwise complicated legal concepts.

The three 2020 Winners were selected by an expert jury panel from a total of 766 applicants from across Europe. In July, 30 Semi-Finalists participated in the European Social Innovation Competition's Digital Academy - an intensive training and coaching programme designed to develop their initiatives.

Impact Prize

Impact is at the heart of the European Social Innovation Competition. The 2020 Impact Prize was open to all Semi-Finalists from the previous year's edition of the European Social Innovation Competition. It recognises the innovation that has demonstrated the most significant results leading to social impact across the past 12 months under the theme 'Challenging Plastic Waste'.

The 2020 Impact Prize, worth 50,000€, was awarded to:

Empower (Norway)

Empower was founded with a vision to empower people to create a cleaner and better world. It is based on the idea of using new technology to enable a circular economy. The project developed a digital plastic waste collection system through which plastic waste can be deposited -and collected- for a financial reward.

All of the 2020 Winners were announced at a virtual Awards Ceremony which took place as part of the digital European Social Economy Exchange Event.

The Judging Panel

The European Social Innovation Competition selects a new Judging Panel every year. As a group, these Judges offer a wealth of experience and insights, covering social innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as technical expertise addressing the year's theme. Through their collective voice they review applications and determine which entrants are taken forward to later stages of the Competition, firstly as Semi-Finalists, then as Finalists, and ultimately as Winners. Each year's Judging Panel returns the following year to review applications for the Impact Prize. Please see the full list below:

Anita Hrast, IRDO - Inštitut za razvoj družbene odgovornosti (Slovenia), Anna Fiscale, Progetto Quid (Italy), Bert Van Son, MUD Jeans (Netherlands), Carrie Ann Moran, NCBI (Ireland), Federica Massa Saluzzo, EADA Business School (Spain), Fredrik Timour, Swedish Fashion Council (Sweden), Jaan Aps, Stories for Impact (Estonia), John Pitsakis, 3QUARTERS (Greece), Jonas Eder-Hansen, Global Fashion Agenda (Denmark), Pavlína Louženská, Consultant (Czech Republic), Pirjo Kääriäinen, Aalto University (Finland), Sebastian Thies, NAT-2 (Germany).

2020 Impact Prize Judges:

Carolien Kernkamp, Finest Ventures Holding & Just Strategies Consultancy (Netherlands), Esra Tat, Zero Waste Europe (Belgium), Fabrizio Barbiero, City of Torino (Italy), Johannes Kisser, alchemia-nova (Austria), Ladeja Godina Košir, Circular Change (Slovenia), Luis Amado, B Lab (Portugal), Milena Glimbovski, Original Unverpackt (Germany), Mircea Ilie, IKEA (Romania), Dr. Sarah Miller, The Rediscovery Centre (Ireland).

More information about European Social Innovation Competition:

Launched in memory of social innovation pioneer Diogo Vasconcelos, the European Social Innovation Competition is a challenge prize run by the European Commission across all EU Member States and Horizon 2020 associated countries. Now in its 8th year, the Competition acts as a beacon for social innovators in Europe, employing a proven methodology for supporting early-stage ideas and facilitating a network of radical innovators shaping society for the better. Each year the Competition addresses a different issue facing Europe. This year the focus is: Reimagine Fashion.

The Competition is organised by the European Commission with support from Nesta, Kennisland, Ashoka Spain, the European Network of Living Labs, and Scholz & Friends.

For information on earlier editions and winning projects, visit:

www.eusic.challenges.org

Questions about the Competition can be sent to: [email protected]

Telephone: +49 30 700 186 371

Follow the Competition on Twitter: @EUSocialInnov #diogochallenge

Subscribe to the Competition newsletter here: https://eusic.challenges.org/subscribe/

SOURCE European Social Innovation Competition