GEC Textile Award 2022

The Global Entrepreneurship Centre’s (GEC) mandate is to increase the number of successful start-ups that scale and reach commercial success. The GEC supports transformative companies that focus on Sustainable Technologies (SusTech) for achieving circularity, the global climate targets of the Paris Accord and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. The GEC  supports and brings to the market the world’s best SusTech entrepreneurs through a unique 360° scale-up service and thus craft the economy of the future.

To identify innovation champions with transformative potential, the GEC will award the innovation prize in the textile sector in the following areas:

  • Material and/or product innovation,
  • Process and logistics innovation,
  • Recycling innovation,
  • Business model innovation.

Your innovation covers all three areas and is sustainable, circular and transformative? You have a good chance to win!

Application

You can apply for the following two categories:

  • Technical Textiles
  • Fashion Textiles

The application is open for entrepreneurs from all continents with a technical development level beyond Technical Readiness Level (TRL) 5, as defined by the Horizon 2020 programme of the European Commission (PDF on europa.eu – opens a new tab).

Selection Criteria

The GEC assessment covers the following criteria:

  • Innovation,
  • Team,
  • Business viability,
  • Market potential,
  • Partnerships,
  • Direct and indirect impact on the achievement of the global climate targets of the Paris Accord, on the Achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, on the Implementation of Circular Economy Concepts

Timeline

  • Oct 15- Nov 30: Application window.Basic information and company deck is required. Applicants will be contacted in a second step to provide further information about the company.
  • Dec 1 – Feb 28: Applications review by GEC team and Jury.Pre-selected candidates will be recontacted to provide further information for assessment.
  • March 2022: Announcement of the Award winners

Terms

The Award consists of the GEC Scaling Factory and the GEC Technology services. The services will be provided free of charge to the award winners. The GEC Scaling Factory services for the winners of the award will be based on a pre-assessment of the priority needs of each winner, and provided by the GEC upon mutual agreement.

DISCLAIMER: The award is given at the sole discretion of the GEC. There is no statutory entitlement to receiving the award at any time. If no applications meet the criteria of the Global Entrepreneurship Centre, no award will be given.