30 projects become semi-finalists of EC's competition

15 May '20

3 min read

Pic: Shutterstock

The European Commission has come out with the list of the semi-finalists of the 2020 European Social Innovation Competition. The focus of the competition this year is Reimagine Fashion: Changing behaviours for sustainable fashion. There were 766 applications, of which 30 projects from 14 countries made it to the list. Finally, there will be three winners.

A total of 30 projects from 14 countries were selected from a field of 766 applications, by a Judging Panel comprising industry leaders from both the social innovation and sustainable fashion worlds. The selected semi-finalists are all early stage social innovation projects that are working towards changing the ways one produces, buys, uses and recycles fashion and encouraging a sustainable change in consumer behaviour.

In the next stage of the competition they will receive expert help and support to further develop their ideas, before the judges meet again later this year to determine the 10 Finalists and, ultimately, the three Winners.

Slawomir Tokarski, director of Innovation and Advanced Manufacturing, DG GROW, said: "Building on Europe's position at the forefront of global fashion, this year's European Social Innovation Competition set out to look for innovations that encourage more sustainability across the fashion industry. 766 applicants from across Europe and the Horizon 2020 associated countries answered our call and we're really impressed with the variety of creative ideas they've come up with to help reimagine fashion for the better."

Semi-Finalists include Alma (Italy), a material innovation start-up, focused on finding sustainable components to create vegan leather; Bybrown’s Transposable Circular Raincoat (Netherlands), a 100 per cent recyclable, circular and durable raincoat that is to be distributed through a new consumption model; ChoozFit (Romania), a proprietary outfit recommendation engine for digital fashion brands that helps consumers make more sustainable choices, and Cultural Sustainability in Fashion (Romania), artisan-designer collaborations focused on reviving heritage European textile crafts.

The semi-finalists receive a comprehensive online package of support from experienced social innovators to further the development of their ideas. This includes the competition's social innovation academy, a multi-day training event that connects semi-finalists to a wider community of European social innovators through a series of dedicated presentations and workshops. This year the academy will take place online, offering the same programme in a collaborative and digital format. Semi-finalists will also be paired with a local coach for one-to-one mentoring and gain access to an online pool of experts for tailored advice on specific aspects of launching a social venture.

This prepares them for the next stage of the competition, where they submit extensive development plans to the Judging Panel. The judges will then have the responsibility to select 10 finalists and eventually three winners, each of whom will be awarded €50,000. Additionally, an impact prize of €50,000will be awarded to the semi-finalist from the 2019 edition of the competition that has achieved the most significant impact over the past 12 months.

The European Social Innovation Competition selects 12 judges every year to sit on the Judging Panel.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (SV)

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