Municipality launches Social Innovation Prize worth 360 thousand euros

The prize, worth 360,000 euros, divided between the three categories, will also allow incubation at the Unicorn Factory, with access to workspaces, mentors and support from Lisbon City Council, in order to test the winning ideas in the city. The solutions must respond to a need and/or challenge in one or more of these three areas, and be able to be implemented within one year of the prize being awarded.

Proposals can be submitted by national and international organizations: scaleups (companies that are growing and have scalability) that already have a solution that can be redefined and adapted to Lisbon; startups (innovative companies in the early stages, with growth potential) that are developing or have a solution in testing; and entrepreneurs who are designing or improving an existing solution.

At the presentation of the award, during Entrepreneurship Week, Carlos Moedas stressed the importance of "motivating the ecosystem, which is already very strong in Lisbon, to create more social innovation projects, in the areas of education, health and integration" of migrants. Innovation, added the Lisbon mayor, "plays a key role in improving quality of life and solving the social challenges that affect cities."

In November last year, Lisbon was awarded the "European Capital of Innovation" prize. At the time, Carlos Moedas announced that the prize money - one million euros - would be invested by the Unicorn Factory "to develop social innovation projects and combat exclusion, using technology as a social elevator".