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 rewards every year Europe’s best sustainable mobility startups.
To its finalists, it provides an 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 EU institutions, multi-national corporations, private companies and non-profit organisations (see About Us), 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 5th 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 (European Investment Bank, EIT Urban Mobility), 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 19 April 2023 and the 20 June 2023.. Eligible countries therefore include Switzerland (which is no longer part of Horizon) as well as the UK, Morocco, and New Zealand who are negotiating their way into Horizon but already have a transitional agreement.
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 Agorize platform.
The startup application can stay “in progress” status as long as the application survey is not finished. As soon as the survey is finished, the evaluation process starts.
Who is eligible?
Each startup goes through a first eligibility test that checks if the startup covers the right subject (innovative and sustainable mobility) and is based and/or operates in an eligible European country (Europe at large, see home page’s eligibility map)
The selection committee has a comprehensive approach of startups and is open to consider every stage of development (from pre-seed to series C) and will offer tailored-made opportunities via its acceleration programme.
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 50)
- video-conference (in order to determine the top 10)
- ceremony (awarding the top 10 and 10 Special Prizes)
3- EVALUATION MEMBERS
50 independent experts, covering every sector of smart and sustainable mobility, recruited by EUSP and its co-founders 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?
20 June 2023
What other key dates should I keep in mind?
- 19 April 2023: Opening Ceremony in the French Ministry of Transport in Paris and opening of the application platform
- 20 June 2023 : application platform closes
- 25 October March 2023: Award Ceremony with the winning startups in the European Parliament, Brussels
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 the European Parliament.
In addition, 13 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 a three-month acceleration programme, run by our co-founders Via-ID. In addition, the top 3 will enjoy awarded a dedicated consulting package by our partner Roland Berger.