Industry of the Future award 2022

What is the Industry of the future Award?

Industry of the future provides a vision of the future of European industry, which aims to achieve societal goals beyond jobs and growth. Industry would become a resilient provider of prosperity, by making production more sustainable and placing the wellbeing of the worker at the centre of the production process.

The Industry of the future Award is a recognition prize for EU-funded projects that advance the Industry of the future vision. Projects should be able to present a convincing and inspiring solution, addressing the three main pillars of the Industry of the future: sustainability, human-centricity and resilience, while also being clearly applicable in industry.

Award ceremony and prize

For this first edition, finalists were invited to the Award ceremony on 28 September 2022 during the Research and Innovation Days 2022. During the ceremony, the trophy was presented to the winner Ramp-PV. This was a unique opportunity to showcase the qualities of the 3 finalists. Ramp-PV, the winning project, will receive communication support from the European Commission, which includes the preparation of promotional videos, social media publicity and an article in the Horizon Magazine.

News alert: Industry of the future Award winner announced

Competition and finalists

By the deadline for applications (1 April 2022), we received close to 60 applications. An independent jury evaluated the proposals against the evaluation criteria and selected 3 finalists.

• RAMP-PV has developed a green recycling process to up-cycle high quality raw materials (such as silicon and silver) from industrially generated photo-voltaic waste. On top of environmental benefits, the project helps reduce the dependence of the European industry on raw materials and aims to minimise the health-related risks for its workers.
  
  Watch the video presentation
   
• SECOIIA focuses on cybersecurity, which is an important component of industry’s resilience in the digital age. The project develops solutions for data-driven circular economic business models. It contributes to workers’ health, safety and wellbeing by demonstrating safe and secure human-robot interactions in non-segregated spaces.
  
  ​Watch the video presentation
   
• SHERLOCK develops human-centric solutions by improving working conditions and ergonomics, reducing physical and cognitive load, thereby increasing the attractiveness of industry. It reduces the environmental footprint of the production process by increasing efficiency and reducing waste. Project develops collaborative robots that can be reconfigured, contributing to greater flexibility, and therefore resilience.
  
  Watch the video presentation

The winning project will receive communication support from the European Commission, which includes the preparation of promotional videos, social media publicity and an article in the Horizon Magazine.

The concept of the award was prepared in collaboration with European Factories of the Future Research Association (EFFRA) and industrial platform ManuFUTURE.

Eligibility criteria - who can apply?

Projects must have been funded by the Horizon 2020 or Horizon Europe framework programmes or the European Institute on Innovation and Technology (EIT).

The official start date of the project must be after 1 September 2018 and the projects should clearly be applicable in industry.

How and when to apply?

Applications should be made using the application form template and should follow the guidelines set out in the rules of contest. You will find all useful documents below.

Applications are now closed.

Award criteria

Admissible and eligible projects will be evaluated and ranked against the following award criteria

• contribution to sustainability
• contribution to human-centricity
• contribution to resilience
• integration, inspirational power and cross-over effect

Further information about the scoring can be found in the rules of contest.

Frequently asked questions

Should the projects applying for this contest be already completed by the date of the submission deadline?

No, both ongoing and completed projects can participate in the contest, provided they fulfil eligibility criteria.

What format should we use when submitting the application form?

Both .docx / .doc, as well as .pdf forms are acceptable for submission.