The EuroTech Universities Alliance brings together six leading European universities of science and technology to address major societal challenges through research, innovation and collaboration.
The EuroTech Rising Stars Award (formerly the EuroTech Future Award) recognises outstanding early-career researchers whose work demonstrates exceptional potential for scientific, societal and economic impact. By celebrating emerging research talent, the award supports Europe’s future innovation leaders.
The award is given by the EuroTech Universities Alliance members:
- Technical University of Denmark
- École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
- Institut Polytechnique de Paris
- Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
- Eindhoven University of Technology
- Technical University of Munich
Award benefits
For each award recognition track, the offered prizes are:
- 1st place: €2,000
- 2nd place: €1,000
- 3rd place: €500
Beyond the financial reward, the award provides:
- Formal recognition, with framed certificates presented to first, second- and third-place winners in each recognition track.
- Visibility and promotion through EuroTech communication channels, including online profiles, Alliance-wide promotion and the EuroTech Rising Stars Award Brochure, featuring nominees and winners.
- Showcasing opportunities, including invitations for first-place winners to present their research or spin-off ideas at the EuroTech Summit in Brussels, on 28 October 2026, and opportunities to showcase the winners’ work in the Summit exhibition.
- Networking and international exposure, with the selected nominees receiving tickets to Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin, on 7-8 November 2026, providing opportunities to connect with leading researchers, innovators and science stakeholders from across Europe and beyond.
Eligibility
The award is intended for Rising Stars, defined as PhD candidates (in the finalisation phase of their PhD) and researchers who are no more than five years post-PhD by the call deadline, counted from the date of their PhD defence.
Exceptions may apply in cases of documented career breaks, such as parental leave, illness, caring responsibilities, military service, clinical training or other duly justified interruptions.
Nominees must be based at a EuroTech partner institution at the time their nomination is submitted. Their research or innovation work may, however, have been initiated or partly developed at another institution before joining the EuroTech partner.
Former winners of the Award are not eligible.
Scope
Nominations may be submitted under one of two recognition tracks:
- Rising Research Stars: outstanding scientific discovery that significantly advances knowledge or understanding in a field, incl. excellent research with strong potential for scientific, technological, societal, environmental, health, industrial or policy impact.
- Rising Innovation Stars: outstanding efforts to translate research into solutions with potential benefit for society, incl. early-stage venture ideas emerging from research, with strong potential for market uptake and economic impact
The award is open to contributions from all research fields and disciplines. It recognises the wide range of ways in which early-career researchers advance scientific knowledge, drive technological development, and address societal challenges.
Where relevant, priority may be given to nominees with strong potential to remain engaged within the EuroTech universities ecosystem in the coming years, in line with the Alliance’s objective of supporting and retaining emerging talents.
Timeline
The timeline for the 2026 award is as follows:
Nomination process
- Each EuroTech member university may nominate up to:
- two candidates for the Rising Research Stars category; and
- two candidates for the Rising Innovation Stars category
- Applications may be submitted either through the online application form or using the attached Word application form, to be returned to [email protected]. The form may be completed by the nominee or by a third party on their behalf, provided that all required information and approvals are included.
- The deadline for submitting nominations is 25 September 2026.
- To help us monitor submissions and ensure that no nomination is missed, we would also appreciate receiving a short summary email from each university confirming the names and categories of its selected nominees by the deadline.
- Each university remains free to organise its internal selection process through the channels and governance arrangements it considers most appropriate.
Should you have questions about the internal selection process in each of the partner universities, please email us at [email protected] and we will refer you to the relevant contact.
Important
Only one submission per nominee is admissible. In the case of multiple submissions, only the latest submission received will be considered.
Submissions must be made entirely in English.
Jury
The winners will be determined by an inter-university jury. The jury is composed of the Vice-Presidents for Research of the six EuroTech Universities.
Prof. Gerhard Kramer
Executive VP Research & Innovation, TUM
Prof. Silvia Lenaerts
Rector Magnificus, TU/e
Prof. Noam Adir
Executive VP Research, Technion
Christine Nellemann
Provost, DTU
Prof. Annalisa Buffa
Associate VP Research, EPFL
Prof. Jamal Atif
VP for Research and Innovation, IP Paris
Award ceremony & Costs
The award ceremony will take place on Wednesday, 28 October 2026, in Brussels.
Travel expenses for the first-place winners in each recognition track will be covered. Second- and third-place winners will be responsible for their own travel and accommodation costs. However, some member universities may provide financial support, subject to their own funding availability.
Online participation will also be possible.
For the Falling Walls event, selected nominees receiving tickets are generally expected to cover their own travel and accommodation costs. Some member universities similarly may offer financial support, depending on their available funding.
Further information
For more detailed information, please see the terms & conditions. We also have gathered answers to potential questions in our FAQ sections below. In case of doubt, please send an e-mail to [email protected], we are happy to help.
FAQ: Eligibility
For the purpose of the EuroTech Rising Stars Award, early-career researchers are defined PhD candidates (in the finalisation phase of their PhD) and researchers who are no more than five years post-PhD by the call deadline, counted from the date of their PhD defence.
Yes, under certain conditions career breaks can be taken into account, namely if they have been caused by maternity or paternity leave, long-term illness, national service, clinical training, or due to a natural disaster or seeking asylum.
Please make sure to specify the reasons in the application form, within the eligibility section.
Feel free to discuss the eligibility before submission by sending an e-mail to [email protected].
FAQ: Submission
Yes, absolutely. Please focus the submission on the researcher’s personal contributions to that project.
No, only one application per nominee is possible.
When applying online, it is possible to save a draft and edit the application. Otherwise, once the application is submitted, it will not be possible to make amendments. In that case, please submit a new one – only the latest submission will be considered. This is only possible before the deadline is reached.
A strong nomination clearly demonstrates the nominee’s excellence, originality, potential impact, scalability and European potential. Applications should provide concrete evidence of achievements, explain what makes the research or innovation distinctive, and show how the work could contribute to future scientific, technological, societal or economic developments.
You may provide evidence that demonstrates excellence, progress and impact potential. Depending on the recognition track, this may include:
- Publications, research outputs, datasets, software or methods;
- Awards, prizes, fellowships or competitive grants;
- Patents, prototypes, demonstrators or proof-of-concept results;
- Industrial collaborations, pilots, user validation or investment raised;
- Start-up, spin-off or commercialisation activities;
- Other evidence demonstrating recognition, uptake or future potential.
The relevance of the evidence is more important than the quantity.
For the Rising Research Stars track, the nomination should focus on:
- The scientific excellence and originality of the research;
- The contribution to advancing knowledge or opening new research directions;
- The potential scientific, technological, societal, environmental, health, industrial or policy impact;
- The relevance of the work to broader European challenges and priorities.
It should be explained both what is excellent about the research itself and why it has the potential to create meaningful impact.
For the Rising Innovation Stars track, the nomination should focus on:
- The research foundation and novelty of the innovation;
- The problem being addressed and the value of the proposed solution;
- The potential users, customers or beneficiaries;
- The pathway towards application, market uptake, commercialisation or deployment;
- The potential to scale and create value, particularly in Europe.
The application should demonstrate not only the technical strength of the innovation but also its potential to move beyond the research environment.
The award recognises early-career researchers and emerging work, so impact may be demonstrated through both achieved results and future potential.
The application should clearly demonstrate the pathway through which the research or innovation could generate scientific, societal, technological, environmental, health, industrial or economic value.
FAQ: Reward
The prize money is personal money and therefore does not need to be linked to a chair or department (but can be, if the winner prefers that).
The award ceremony will take place as part of the EuroTech Summit in Brussels, on 28 October 2026. It will celebrate the achievements of the EuroTech Rising Stars and provide an opportunity to showcase their research and innovation work to the wider EuroTech and external community.
The ceremony will include the presentation of the awards, short pitches by the first-place winners highlighting their research or innovation, and opportunities for the winners to showcase selected projects through exhibition materials.
In addition, a video coverage of the ceremony and interviews with the first-place winners are foreseen.
Previous edition
Curious about the winners of the 2024 edition and their projects? You can find them here!
Thank you to all 2024 participants for their truly impressive submissions!