The 2020 EU Women Innovator Prize will be awarded at the European R&I Days in September. Two Swiss entrepreneurs are among the 21 finalists.
On 10 July, the European Commission (EC) announced the shortlist for the EU Prize for Women Innovators 2020. Totally 21 women will compete for the Horizon 2020 funded prize honouring the achievements of female entrepreneurs running innovative companies. The prize offers two categories. In the main category, three awards of EUR 100’000 each await candidates selected from a pool that consists of 13 of the 21 finalists. In the second category, the title of ‘Rising Innovator’ comes with an award of EUR 50’000 for one out of the eight finalists of women under the age of 35. The winners will be announced at the European Research and Innovation Days, held online on 22-24 September.
This year’s finalists have pioneered innovations contributing to addressing global challenges such as cancer or generating clean energy and come from countries all over Europe. Among them are also two Swiss women innovators. In the main category, Madiha Derouazi, founder and CEO of Amal Therapeutics from Geneva, competes in the area of therapeutic vaccines for cancer. Stefanie Flueckiger-Mangual, co-founder and CEO of TOLREMO Therapeutics, is one of the eight finalist in the ‘Rising Innovator’ category. Her Muttenz-based company works on preventing drug resistance in cancer and delivering precision therapies to complement standard treatments.
The EC launched the EU Prize for Women Innovators in 2011 to raise awareness for the need of more female entrepreneurs and innovators and to create role models for women and girls. Every year, the prize is awarded to four women entrepreneurs from EU Member States and countries associated to Horizon 2020, who have successfully founded their own company and brought innovation to the market. Gender equality is a priority for the EU. The prize should contribute to generating a higher number of women-led start-ups and companies and the respective role models. Currently, only 16% of European start-ups are founded or co-founded by women and only 30% of the start-up entrepreneurs are women.