EU Prize for Women Innovators

The winners of the 2019 EU Prize for Women Innovators were announced at the VivaTech conference in Paris.

The awards, now in their sixth year, aim to raise public awareness of the need for more innovation and more women entrepreneurs. Prizes are funded under Horizon 2020, the EU research and innovation programme.

This year’s winners are:

• BioPhero’s co-founder and CTO, Irina Borodina, BioPhero is a biotech company producing pheromones as a safe, affordable and effective alternative to pesticides.
• Martine Caroff, founder and CSO of two biotechnological companies: LPS-BioSciences, which specialises in bacterial endotoxins for vaccines, in vitro diagnostics, cosmetics and medical devices, and HEPHAISTOS-Pharma which develops immunotherapy for oncology.
• Shimrit Perkol-Finkel, co-founder and CEO of ECOncrete Tech, a company offering high-performance and environmentally sensitive solutions that enhance the biological and ecological value of urban, coastal and marine infrastructures.

The 3 winners received €100,000 for their work. A prize of €50,000 was also presented to the Rising Innovator of 2019 -  Michela Puddu, co-founder and CEO of Haelixa.  Her company uses intelligent DNA-based tracing solutions to ensure ethical and transparent business practices, with special focus on sustainable products such as organic cotton.  

Winners are chosen by a jury of independent experts from business, venture capital, entrepreneurship and academia.

You can read more about the winners here.