Frequently Asked Questions
What is the purpose of the European Startup Prize?
The European Startup Prize for mobility (EUSP) is a Prize that analyses, ranks, reveals, and boosts Europe’s best and most promising clean mobility startups.
To its finalists, it provides major visibility, investment and acceleration programme in order to scale up in Europe.
The EUSP runs under the patronage of the European Parliament; and in collaboration with all major EU institutions, multi-national corporations, private companies and non-profit organisations, building a unique EU innovation ecosystem to help sustainable mobility startups to grow faster, to scale up to another European country, in order to benefit the EU citizens, its tech ecosystem and the planet.
What is the focus of the 7th edition?
1/ trigger industry partnership and trade opportunities via special connections, mentoring and demo days with our European partners.
2/ channel EU funds and private European investors to the startups via partnerships with multiple EU institutions (e.g., European Investment Bank, Europe’s Rail JU), as well as VCs and private investors.
Every event is planned to be hybrid, granting the option of physically attending and meeting our ecosystem or joining us remotely.
What are the selection criteria for this competition?
All mobility solutions based in the European Union and countries participating in the Horizon Europe programme in the past, present, and future can apply between the 14 April 2026 and13 June 2026.
There are 9 key selection criteria for the EU Startup Prize: #1 Innovation #2 Market #3 Execution #4 Team #5 Climate #6 Environmental impact #7 Accessibility and social inclusion #8 Territorial inclusion #9 European scalability.
How does the application work?
All the candidates apply on our platform. If there is any technical issue they have the opportunity to directly contact the organisation team of the European Startup Prize via its website or the AwardForce platform.
The startup application can stay “in progress” status until 13 June, afterwhich, the evaluation process starts.
Who is eligible?
Startups incorporated in one the eligible countries (see above) at any stage of maturity (from pre-seed to series C). Startups do not have to offer technology which is unique to the transport sector but any technology that could benefit the transport sector to be more sustainable. This includes hardware and software in any field of mobility (e.g., urban mobility, shared mobility, micro-mobility, logistics and deliveries, drones and air mobility, river mobility, maritime mobility, rail mobility, etc.).
How does the selection works?
1- CATEGORY
During the selection process, applicants will be asked to tick one or several of categories (one main and a few secondaries), depending on where they fit the best. The list will be made public shortly.
Those categories will help the Jury match the right experts with the startups to be evaluated.
2- SELECTION PROCESS
The selection process is organized in three levels of selection:
- on-line (in order to determine a top 30)
- video-conference (in order to determine the top 10)
- ceremony (awarding the top 10 and 10 Special Prizes)
3- EVALUATION MEMBERS
Approx. 100 independent experts, covering every sector of smart and sustainable mobility from across Europe will review all applications.
All members of the evaluation team are subject to the full confidentiality of all information communicated during the EU Prize selection process. If any member has a direct or indirect link with an applicant, that could potentially influence the scoring process, he/she will not be invited to evaluate this particular startup. This rule applies for individual investors, corporate investors, board members, family, advisor, customer or supplier relationship, inter alia.
What is the deadline for submitting applications?
13 June, 2026.
What other key dates should I keep in mind?
- 14 April 2026: Opening Ceremony on the Unicorn Stage in Lisbon, under the patronage of Mayor Carlos Moedas (tbc).
- 13 June 2026 : application platform closes
- July 2026: Announcement of this year’s TOP30
- June 2025: Award Ceremony with the winning startups (10 winners & Special Category Award laureates)
How many startups will be rewarded?
The 10 startups of this edition will be invited to present their technology in our Grand Final Ceremony in Luxembourg, as part of this year’s Luxemburg Venture Days. The ceremony will be broadcast by the Brussels Times to hundreds of thousands of online viewers.
In addition, special prizes will be awarded in various categories, each granted by one of this year’s partner organisations.
What is the Prize?
The top 10 startups will be awarded on the day of the Award Ceremony. They will then be invited for an acceleration programme, run by our co-founder TUM Venture Labs.