Launched in memory of social innovation pioneer Diogo Vasconcelos, the European Social Innovation Competition is a challenge prize run by the European Commission (EC) across all EU Member States and Horizon 2020 Associated Countries. Now in its 8th year, the Competition acts as a beacon for social innovators in Europe, employing a proven methodology for supporting early-stage ideas and facilitating a network of radical innovators shaping society for the better. Each year the Competition is based around a different issue facing Europe.
This year, the focus is: Reimagine Fashion
The EC is looking for ideas from one or more of the fields listed below and encourages solutions that address several of these areas through a systems perspective:
Solutions for sustainable use and consumption
- Change consumption patterns and behaviours regarding the linear use of ‘fast’ fashion
- Extend the life cycle of fashion products
- Reduce the use and consumption of fashion and textiles through innovative business models in favour of reuse, upcycling and sharing
- Make sustainable and fair fashion more broadly accessible
- Stimulate socially inclusive processes throughout the fashion value chain
Solutions for sustainable production
- Net zero waste and climate neutral fashion and textiles production
- Closed loop fashion and textiles systems
- Sourcing of alternative, sustainable feedstock
- Innovative techniques that build on traditional or local crafts for socially sustainable products
- Innovations that reduce the environmental footprint of the fashion market
Solutions for improving the end of life stage
- Environmentally and socially respectful ways of recycling textiles, while maintaining their value
- Reuse of textile by-products before they become waste
Find out more about the project and the prizes at https://eusic.challenges.org/
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