Conditions for Application, Berlin Brandenburg Innovation Award 2024

Last updated: 01/03/2024

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Berlin Brandenburg Innovation Award 2024

Each year, the Berlin Brandenburg Innovation Award acknowledges outstanding innovations and the actors behind them. It is awarded by the Senator for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises of the State of Berlin and the Minister for Economic Affairs, Labour and Energy of the State of Brandenburg.

What would winning an Innovation Award mean for me?

The Innovation Award 2024 is worth EUR 15,000 per winner. It can be awarded to a maximum of five deserving submissions.1 The prize-winners also receive a certificate, a sculpture and a marketing package for impactful PR. They are entitled to advertise in their marketing campaigns using both the “Innovation Award Winner” logo provided and the year in which the Innovation Award was won. The prize-winners are also involved in certain events within the PR work for the Innovation Award.

What innovations are awarded?

The Berlin Brandenburg Innovation Award is awarded for innovations of all kinds that meet high standards as defined by the Conditions for Application and have good to very good prospects of market success. The award is given for technical/technological innovations as well as exemplary, non-technical innovations such as organisational and marketing concepts or business models. The focus lies particularly on innovations

  • that drive the digital transformation,
  • that enable new types of work processes,
  • with social added value or significant added value in the field of environmentalsustainability,
  • that further open up innovation processes (open innovation),
  • that contribute to a greater flexibility of work for employees,
  • through which production processes can be redesigned,
  • that take sustainability into account as a principle of action,
  • that implement the principle of the circular economy in processes and productsin a significant way,
  • that expand existing regional value-added structures and/or create new ones.

The Berlin Brandenburg Innovation Award is closely interlinked with the Joint Innovation Strategy of the States of Berlin and Brandenburg (innoBB 2025).

The awards are therefore presented to innovations from the innoBB 2025 clusters:

  • healthcare industries
  • energy technology
  • ICT, media,creative industries
  • optics and photonics
  • transport, mobility,logistics

If your innovation is a cooperation connecting industries and disciplines (e.g. app developments for the healthcare industry, artificial intelligence applications for mobility/logistics), it will be assigned to the “cross cluster” segment for evaluation by the jury.

Who can participate?

The Innovation Award is open to:

  • companies of any size, age or industry, alone or in B2B collaborations (small, medium-sized and larger companies, including start-ups, digital and creative industries, trade/craft businesses, industrial companies) as well as
  • collaborative partnerships in science/economy
  • individuals and teams, particularly from universities and scientific institutions (for amarket-ready product/process), for projects in the experimental developmentstage only in cooperation with companies
  • other actors from the clusters, always in collaboration with companies (e.g. healthinsurance companies, healthcare providers).

Submissions from female entrepreneurs, scientists, researchers and developers are encouraged explicitly.

What requirements are to be met?

  • The innovation must be implemented, exploited or produced, or such pursued, in the Berlin-Brandenburg region.
  • If the innovation originated outside the region, exploitation in the Berlin- Brandenburg region must have begun already or preparation for it must be demonstrably in process.
  • Existing rights of third parties, particularly industrial property rights, must not be infringed. A corresponding applicant’s self-declaration concerning this is required.
  • The innovation must be at least at the experimental stage of development and meet the above conditions.
  • Implementation, exploitation or production must not have begun more than 36 months before the start of the application phase (in the 2024 competition year not before 15/04/2021).

Up to three innovations per applicant can be submitted. A separate application form must be filled out for each innovation.

How do I apply?

Please apply for the Berlin Brandenburg Innovation Award exclusively via the (2-step) online application form.

Once the first form has been completed, you will receive a confirmation with the submitted data and the link to the second form to the email address you provided. Whereas the first form requires only a short description and contact details, the second form asks three questions about the innovation, which must be answered briefly in a maximum of 3,000 characters including spaces (see also description in the flyer). Appendices that could facilitate the jury’s selection decision may be attached.

In principle, applications must be submitted in German. If this constitutes a barrier to application, interested parties who do not speak German can contact the organisation office.

The application form is available online from 10 am 15 April until 12 noon 8 July 2024 at: https://www.innovationspreis.de/bewerbung. Application deadline is 12 noon 8 July 2024. Applications for the Innovation Award can only be considered if they have been submitted complete.

If the online application process constitutes a barrier, the application can be submitted in writing, stating the respective reasons. To do so, please contact the organisation office of the Berlin Brandenburg Innovation Award: info@innovationspreis.de or by telephone: +49 (0)331 243 62 60.

Please note that application documents will not be sent back.

Who decides on the applications?

The decision on the presentation of the Innovation Award is made by a jury comprising independent personalities from regional and national business and science, whose expertise can be assigned to the five clusters of the Berlin-Brandenburg region. They were appointed by the Senator for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises of the State of Berlin and the Minister for Economic Affairs, Labour and Energy of the State of Brandenburg. The meetings of the jury are not open to the public. Their decisions are final.

According to what criteria does the jury evaluate the applications?

The submitted applications will be evaluated by the jury according to the following criteria:

  • Level of innovation
  • Market maturity / model character for other companies
  • Economic and business value-added

When will the award be presented?

The award will be presented at a ceremony by the Senator for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises of the State of Berlin and the Minister for Economic Affairs, Labour and Energy of the State of Brandenburg on Friday, 29 November 2024.

Key dates:

  • Start of application period: 15 April 2024, 10 am
  • End of application period: 8 July 2024, 12 noon
  • Evaluation of applications by the jury: August to October 2024
  • Public announcement of up to ten nominees: 15 October 2024
  • Award of up to five award-winners: 29 November 2024

What else need to be considered?

Legal recourse is excluded.

Download Conditions for Application