EIT Community presents New European Bauhaus Ideation Awards winners

Supported by the EIT Community, the New European Bauhaus Ideation Awards winners were announced on 30 March, 2022.

Solutions to New European Bauhaus challenges—green transition through architectural, cultural and historic sites, circularity and urban resilience, and affordability and accessibility to all—were put forward by 27 applications. Three among them won the Jury Award and one won the Audience Award. A Special Mention of Honour was also given. 

The proposals came from a diversity of places. There was one application from Croatia, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Latvia, Peru, Romania, Slovenia and Turkey respectively. Estonia, Kenya and Switzerland had two applications each. There were three applications from Finland, while four were submitted from Germany and Spain respectively.

The Jury Award winners were from Italy, Germany and Estonia. 

Martin Kern, Director of the EIT said: “The EIT Community shines in bringing together the brightest innovators from all corners of our continent to create new ideas that turn challenges into solutions and transformation. The New European Bauhaus is built on the belief that the spaces and place we cherish need to be sustainable, beautiful, inclusive and a force to bring us together. I congratulate the finalists in dreaming to achieve this and I can’t wait to see their innovations further come to life with the support of the EIT.” 

Jury Award

The First Prize of EUR 3,000 plus travel and accommodation to attend the New European Bauhaus Ideation Awards Ceremony was awarded to Jebbia, a solution created with reused materials to rethink urban landscapes. It’s a weather-proof and modular green cover that protects and hides urban technical infrastructure, creating positive impact for the user and the community by preserving urban heritage and landscapes, increase green areas in cities, and absorbing CO2, among other things. 

The Second Prize of EUR 2,000 plus travel and accommodation to attend the New European Bauhaus Ideation Awards Ceremony was awarded to TurtleApp, the solution to promote second hand clothing in an attractive and convenient way. The modern and user-friendly app consolidates all the possible second-hand options available in one’s proximity, prioritising consumer needs instead of pushing them to buy more, while making use of digital technology to match the right products to the right consumers. All of this can be localised, bringing together consumers, city initiatives, shops and digital platforms with relevant items located within 25 kilometres.

The Third Prize of EUR 1,000 plus travel and accommodation to attend the New European Bauhaus Ideation Awards Ceremony was awarded to WasteLocker, which aims to tag batches of waste at the source and to make their reuse, recycling or recovery simpler, traceable and certifiable in real-time. The project will remove bottlenecks in the waste stream and give feedback. Only around 30 per cent of waste is recycled at the moment in Estonia, which is why the team has discussed the possibility of pilot projects with support from the cities of Tallinn and Tartu, Cleantech Estonia and contacts across the value chain.

Audience Award

The Audience Award of EUR 1,000 plus travel and accommodation to attend the New European Bauhaus Ideation Awards Ceremony was awarded to Re-monda, a circular solution to manufacture highly-demanded biodegradable materials in a context of plastic crisis worldwide. Re-monda seeks to turn oranges into bioplastic, re-valuing organic waste while reducing the environmental impact of the whole city. This is possible thanks to the presence of valuable polysaccharides such as pectin, cellulose and hemicellulose in the orange peel. The proposal was born in Climathon Sevilla 2021, with the goal of implementing it in eCitySevilla, a carbon-neutral project in Cartuja island for 2025.

Honourable Mention

An Honourable Mention goes to Food for the Earth. Food for the Earth is a community-based initiative for composting on-site. It empowers local communities and promotes climate-friendly behaviour and ways to live. Food for Earth’s main goal is to create, adapt, transfer knowledge and raise awareness among citizens and municipalities about soil’s health in urban and periurban areas. It addresses specific social groups, such as families, youngsters or children seeking climate friendly behaviour. 

Further information:

Grand Jury Award

The Jury Award and Audience Award winners now move forward to the Grand Jury Award contest (“Best of Bests”). The Joint Research Centre will review the four proposals to select amongst them the Grand Jury Award winner. The name of the winner will be released at the New European Bauhaus Ideation Awards in-person ceremony session. The “Best of Bests” will receive a prize of EUR 10,000 for seed-funding (implementation of the product/idea).

In-person Award Ceremony Session

The New European Bauhaus Ideation Awards in-person ceremony session will be held in the context of the New European Bauhaus Festival in Brussels in early June (date TBC). The ceremony session will be an opportunity for Jury Award and Audience Award winners to showcase their products/ideas and to receive public recognition for them. The event will be open to the public and will include inspiring keynote speeches of New European Bauhaus relevant personalities and experts. 

In addition, winners will enjoy a specific New European Bauhaus programme created for them by EIT Climate-KIC, including New European Bauhaus visits, sessions and coaching.  

Also, winners will be able to enjoy the different sessions of the New European Bauhaus Festival, including side-events, the Fair and the Forum. It will be a fantastic opportunity for stakeholders to meet, explore synergies and create partnerships.  

Other New European Bauhaus opportunities

• Two online New European Bauhaus courses are available for free. Developed by the EIT Community New European Bauhaus in collaboration with the RMIT-University: Creating Ethical and Sustainable Cities at the Local Level  and  Bringing Urban Nature Into the Cities of Tomorrow.
• The EIT Community New European Bauhaus Info Day 2022 is planned on 3 May, 2022. More information to be provided soon. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn about New European Bauhaus success stories developed in 2021 and New European Bauhaus opportunities to be open in 2022!
• The New European Bauhaus Ideation Awards 2022 will be open in early June 2022, on the occasion of the in-person award ceremony of the 2021 New European Bauhaus Ideation Awards. 
• The New European Bauhaus Hackathon Week will be held on the last week of September 2022. More information to be released late July. Do not miss the opportunity to participate at one of the six different New European Bauhaus Hackathons that will be held across Europe!