At an award ceremony in Brussels on International
Women’s Day, Commissioner Carlos Moedas and
Vice-President of the European Parliament
Mairead McGuinness announced the four winners
of the 2017 Horizon 2020-funded EU Prize for
Women Innovators.
The winners of the 2017 EU Prize for Women
Innovators are:
1st Prize (€100,000): Ms Michela Magas, of
Croatian/British nationality, founder of
Stromatolite, a UK Design Innovation Lab with a
studio in Sweden, building a new generation of
incubation and creative technology toolkits for
innovation.
2nd Prize (€50,000): Ms Petra Wadström from
Sweden, founder of Solvatten, which produces a
portable water purifier and water heater that are
powered by solar energy.
3rd Prize (€30,000): Ms Claudia Gärtner from
Germany, founder of microfluidic ChipShop,
which provides “lab-on-a-chip” systems as
miniaturised solutions for better diagnostics.
Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research,
Science and Innovation, said: “The winners of
this year’s EU Prizes for Women innovators are
truly inspiring. Europe needs more women
innovators like them, with great ideas and the
courage and determination to take risks and
succeed. The innovations that the four winners
have brought from idea to market are remarkable
not only from a business point of view but also
because they will benefit and improve the lives
of many people in Europe and beyond”.
Mairead McGuinness, Vice-President of the
European Parliament, said: “This Prize
demonstrates the significant contribution of
women innovators in bringing many life-changing
innovations to the market. It is very fitting that
on this International Women’s Day 2017 we
recognise and celebrate their entrepreneurial
spirit and achievements; we do so in a very
visible way to give inspiration to other women
and, in particular, to young women and girls to
look towards innovation and entrepreneurship.”
In addition, a new category was introduced this
year – the Rising Innovators Award – which
recognises excellence in female entrepreneurs
aged 30 years or under. The first winner of the
prize worth €20,000 is Ms Kristina Tsvetanova
from Bulgaria, who is CEO and co-founder of the
Austrian company, BLITAB Technology, which
has produced the first tablet for blind users,
called BLITAB.