The EIT Community has announced the winners of its Deep Tech Talent Training Prize, awarding a total of EUR 440,000 to honour seven top organisations dedicated to improving skills, fostering diverse training collaborations and creating inclusive training programmes in deep tech.
The prize recognises and rewards outstanding contributions from training providers, universities and industry partners addressing challenges in deep tech education and bridging Europe’s skills gap.
The prize award ceremony, held in Barcelona, included a keynote speech by Professor Petia Radeva (University of Barcelona), and a panel discussion on best practices in deep tech education, with speakers from high-quality education providers and industry representatives. In addition, the ceremony provided ample opportunities for all participants of the event to build connections with and within the EIT Deep Tech Talent ecosystem including the wider EIT Community and EIT alumni.
Meet the winners
A panel of independent experts assessed all eligible applications, based on three thematic areas: Information Technologies and Connectivity; Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing; and Life Sciences and Green Technologies.
The following organisations were awarded the prize within two categories:
Category 1: Partner Training
This category includes partnerships between training providers and employers, regional actors coming together to address regional innovation ecosystem needs, or even ecosystem actors coming together for a specific market or societal need. The winners of this category are:
- UiT The Arctic University of Norway: for the programme, ‘Big Data and AI for Environmental, Ecological and Biological Science’, first place in the area group Information Technologies and Connectivity, training 58 new talents.
- Commercialization Reactor (Sia Fng Invest): for the programme, ‘CR: Deep Tech Creation-to-Capital Cycle’, first place in the area group Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing, training 96 new talents.
Category 2: Targeted Training
This category awards individual training providers who have addressed challenges in deep tech training, such as learners who are often underrepresented in deep tech fields (e.g., women, people with disadvantaged backgrounds, individuals re-entering the job market, etc.), or may address an immediate market or training need that is underdeveloped. The winners of this category are:
- Junior Achievement Europe: for the programme, ‘JA Company Programme with AI Components Integrated’, first place in the area group Information Technologies and Connectivity, training 69,575 new talents.
- Generation Spain: for the programme, ‘Empowering Europe’s Youth: Bridging the Skills Gap in Robotics Automation for a Digital Future’, first place in the area group Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing, training 85 new talents.
- G-LAB S.r.l social enterprise: for the programme, ‘Focus on the Invisible’, first place in the area group Life Sciences and Green Technologies training 53 new talents.
- Generation Ireland: for the programme, ‘Women in Tech: Bridging the Gender Skilling Gap with Generation Ireland’s IT Support and Cybersecurity Program’, second place in the area group Information Technologies and Connectivity, training 46 new talents.
- Campus Biotech Digital: for the programme, ‘Biotechnology and Life Sciences; Advanced Manufacturing’, 2nd place in the area group Life Sciences and Green Technologies, training 80–90 new talents.
Deep Tech training and upskilling is crucial to address skill shortages, promote innovation, and support the growth of industries reliant on deep tech, employability and increase competitiveness across Europe.