Awards ceremony
On 4 June 2026, at the EIC Summit in Brussels, the European Commission announced the winners of the 12th edition of the European Prize for Women Innovators. Managed jointly by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), the prize recognises the invaluable role of women in driving transformative change and fostering innovation-driven growth in the European Union. Read more about the winners in three prize categories:
Women Innovators
Winner: Katerina Spranger (Ukraine/UK) She is the founder and CEO of Oxford Heartbeat and a Royal Academy of Engineering Fellow. She holds a PHD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Oxford and has previously worked in AI research at the Sony Computer Science Laboratory in Paris. She was named a "founder stiving to change the world" by Forbes, and "Young Innovator of the year 2013" at Falling Walls Conference on Future Breakthroughs in Science and Society. In 2024, Dr Spranger received the Princess Royal Silver Medal from the Royal Academy of Engineering, in recognition of an outstanding personal contribution to UK engineering. Find out more about Katerina and her company in this video. |
 |
Second place: Elena Heber (Germany) Elena is the Co-Founder, Chief Clinical Officer, and Managing Director of HelloBetter, the emergent category leader in digital therapeutics (DTx) for mental health and a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. She holds a PhD from Leuphana University Lüneburg specialising in Digital Mental Health, and a degree in Psychology majoring in Clinical, Occupational and Organisational Psychology. Elena is driven by a commitment to closing the global mental health treatment gap: ensuring effective mental healthcare reaches those who need it most, regardless of geography, socioeconomic background, or available infrastructure. She has pursued this mission since the beginning of her academic career, leading clinical investigations that would form the scientific backbone of HelloBetter. Find out more about Elena and her company in this video. |
 |
Third place: Judit Camargo Sanromà (Spain) She has spent her career at the intersection of rigorous science and purposeful entrepreneurship, driven by a conviction that innovation must serve both people and the planet. A lifelong environmentalist, she recognised early that the cosmetics and materials industries, particularly solar protection, were producing solutions that solved one problem while creating others, harming the very ecosystems they depended upon. She resolved to change that. Her path to founding Roka Furadada in 2019 was built on an exceptional breadth of expertise. Judit holds a foundational degree in Chemistry, Master’s degrees in Applied Clinical Research in Health Sciences and in Research Methodology in Public Health and is currently pursuing a PhD in Methodology of Biomedical Research and Public Health. Her professional career spans quality control leadership at major pharmaceutical companies, including senior management roles at Ferrer where she led multidisciplinary laboratory teams, implemented FDA quality systems, and oversaw complex lab integrations across multiple facilities. Since founding Roka, Judit has led the company from concept toa 22-person organisation with a growing international commercial footprint, a portfolio of nine patent families spanning 44 countries and a breakthrough project already adopted by major global cosmetic brands. Find out more about Judit and her company in this video. |
 |
Rising Innovators
Winner: Marta Oliveira (Belgium) Marta is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of ATMOS Space Cargo, a European space logistics company developing return capabilities from orbit. She has been instrumental in building the company from an early-stage concept into a fast-scaling organisation of more than 70 employees, following the successful launch of its first capsule, Phoenix 1, in 2025. She is now overseeing operations as the company advances towards its next missions, Phoenix 2.1 and 2.2, which will establish operational return capability for commercial and institutional customers. She recently led the process of securing the re-entry license for ATMOS’ missions in Santa Maria, Azores, a complex and pioneering effort involving multiple national authorities and international coordination. This work is helping to establish the regulatory foundations for commercial return operations in Europe. With a background in aerospace engineering specialising in astrodynamics, Marta previously worked on European space programmes, including launch safety operations, where she served as an Ariane 5 launch safety engineer for multiple campaigns, including the James Webb Space Telescope launch. She combines technical expertise with operational leadership, bridging engineering and business. Find out more about Marta and her company in this video. |
 |
Second place: Judit Giró Benet (Spain) Judit is the founder of The Blue Box. Judit’s journey is defined by resilience and determination. In 2017, as a biomedical engineering student at the University of Barcelona, she discovered the potential of electronic noses (eNoses) and began developing a system to detect breast cancer in urine samples alongside her professor and local clinicians. Within a year, their results exceeded expectations. Judit founded the company in 2021 and built a multidisciplinary team spanning clinical, technical, and regulatory expertise. Since then, she has raised €4.6M and gained international recognition. Today, she leads the company toward clinical validation and CE marking, aiming to launch their solution in 2027 while inspiring more women to pursue careers in STEM. Find out more about Judit and her company in this video. |
 |
Third place: Carin Lightner (Switzerland) She is the CEO and co-founder of Enantios, a Swiss deep-tech startup developing advanced molecular characterization technologies for the pharmaceutical industry. Her work focuses on translating scientific innovation into scalable products and building analytical infrastructure that supports data-driven and AI-enabled drug development. She started here education at Iowa Stat University in Chemical Engineering and now holds a Doctorate of Science from ETH Zurich, where she worked on Raman Optical Activity (ROA) and its application to molecular structure analysis. Prior to her DSc, she spent several years in the semiconductor equpment industry working in process engineering, gaining experience in the development of high-performance systems. At Enantios, Carin leads the company’s strategy, product development, and industry collaborations. She has guided the transition from academic research to a first-generation commercial instrument and established partnerships with pharmaceutical companies and CDMOs. Her work sits at the intersection of deep-tech engineering, life sciences, and industrial application, with a focus on enabling more reliable and scalable molecular characterization. Find out more about Carin and her company in this video. |
 |
EIT Women Leadership
Winner: Ella Frances Cullen (Portugal) Ella is the Co-founder & Chief Marketing Officer of Minespider, a leading blockchain traceability platform that creates Digital Product & Battery Passports to verify the origin and sustainability of minerals used in supply chains. Companies such as Minsur, Microvast, Renault, Ford, and ABB use the platform to track carbon emissions, critical documents, and the supply chain histories of their materials. Ella has served as a UNECE expert in blockchain traceability and as a mentor for DLT Talents and the CV Labs Incubator. She has been awarded the Women in Tech’s Global Web3 Award 2025, the Young Female Mining Professional of the Year 2024 (Eira Thomas Award) and was recognized as one of 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining 2023. Find out more about Ella and her company in this video. |
 |
Second place: Stefania Raimondo (Italy) She is an Assistant Professor in Biology and Genetics at the University of Palermo and co-founder of Navhetec, an academic spin-off developing innovative technologies based on plant-derived nanovesicles. Her work focuses on unlocking the potential of natural vesicles as functional ingredients for human health. With a PhD in Immunopharmacology, Stefania has built her career bridging fundamental research and innovation, transforming scientific discoveries into patented technologies and scalable solutions. Through Navhetec, she is advancing sustainable, science-driven ingredients for the European market. An experienced project leader and entrepreneur, she has coordinated national and European initiatives and is actively engaged in technology transfer and innovation ecosystems also supported by EIT. She is deeply committed to empowering young scientists and women, promoting a new generation of researchers capable of turning knowledge into impact. Find out more about Stefania and her company in this video. |
 |
Third place: Neide Vieira (Portugal) Neide is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of IPLEXMED, a MedTech startup developing NEXAGUARD®, a portable graphene-based biosensor platform bringing lab-grade, multiplex respiratory pathogen detection and AMR profiling to the point of care — reducing mortality, cutting hospitalization costs by up to 40%, and making precision diagnostics accessible to over 1 billion sufferers worldwide. Neide built 20 years of international research experience across Europe and the USA before transitioning from cellular and molecular biology into deep-tech entrepreneurship — driven by resilience and a lifelong conviction that science must serve people. A multi-award-winning entrepreneur — recognised, among others, by EIT Health, the EIC, She Loves Tech and EmpoWomen — she has secured over €750K, filed several patents, and generated clinical evidence demonstrating NEXAGUARD®'s superior diagnostic accuracy over gold-standard methods. Find out more about Neide and her company in this video. |
 |
Jury Members
Josine Bakkes
|
 |
Christopher Trunk Black A Danish serial entrepreneur and an experienced startup advisor and mentor to several Nordic startups and scaleups within different verticals, all while being a big supporter of helping female entrepreneurs succeed. |
 |
Kave Bulambo Named as one of the voices of a new era of leaders by the Female Factor in 2024 and finalist in the category of most influential women in the Diversity and Inclusion Space in Germany in 2021, Kave Bulambo is a trailblazing pioneer on a mission to challenge the status quo around women and underrepresented groups in Tech. A TEDx Speaker and moderator Kave has built an extraordinary career in Talent Acquisition working with some of Europe's most innovative organizations in the technology industry. This experience coupled with her life journey led her to establish enterprises that center around building people up and cementing inclusion as a core part of business. She is the visionary behind BlackinTechBerlin, the first community of people of African descent in Tech in Germany. Next, she launched TalentDiverse, connecting diverse talent to excellent career opportunities with inclusive organizations. |
 |
Marija Butkovic Marija Butkovic is a lawyer-turned-entrepreneur, innovation and business consultant, and advocate for diversity and inclusion in the tech sector. She is the founder and CEO of Women of Wearables - a leading global organization and ecosystem by and for women and allies in life sciences, particularly women’s health, digital health and biotech space. Marija is also a member of the European Innovation Council and a former Forbes contributor, where she covered topics in women’s health and female-led innovation. She has been featured in major tech and business publications such as TechCrunch, The Next Web, and Huffington Post, and selected as one of the Most Influential Women in UK tech by Computer Weekly in 2018-2024, as well as added among 17 female startup leaders in Europe to follow on LinkedIn by Sifted. Marija regularly appears as a public speaker and panelist at conferences, meetups, and corporate events, covering topics of diversity, emerging technologies, and female-led entrepreneurship. She holds an LLM degree from the University of Law in Rijeka, Croatia. |
 |
Lourenço Jardim Lourenço Jardim is a seasoned advisor in innovation, business management, and public policy, currently serving as principal advisor to the Mayor of Lisbon and former EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation. He has led Lisbon’s innovation strategy, helping position the city as a leading tech hub and securing its recognition as the European Capital of Innovation 2023. He spearheaded the Unicorn Factory project - one of Europe’s most ambitious accelerators -which doubled venture capital investment, tripled the number of startups, and generated over 18,000 tech jobs by 2025. Alongside managing European Affairs at the Mayor’s office, aligning city strategy with EU priorities and funding programs, Lourenço brings extensive consulting experience, having held leadership roles at Atrevia and worked on major transformation projects for global financial and consumer goods companies. An entrepreneur and late-founder of the digital health startup Line Health, he has also been active in policy and public engagement, contributing to European health and tech initiatives. His academic background includes a Master’s from Sciences Po Paris and a degree from Universidad San Andrés, complemented by a Gulbenkian Foundation research grant. He is deeply engaged in civic innovation, co-founding nonprofit initiatives, and representing Lisbon in international platforms such as C40, the World Economic Forum, and URBAN20. |
 |
Alex Kirsch Alex Kirsch is an IT consultant, software architect, programmer, UX designer, coach and scientist. Her academic background includes a PhD in Computer Science from TU München, a position as assistant professor for Artificial Intelligence and Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Tübingen, a former adjunct membership of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities as a member of the Young Scholar's Programme, and a Carl-von-Linde Junior Fellowship of the Institute for Advanced Study of TU München. She has experience in a wide range of industries and research fields and has been certified as IT expert reviewer by DEKRA. Currently she runs her own IT company offering consulting, software development and training. Her expertise covers all aspects of decision-making: making good professional and personal decisions, developing (software) tools that support good decisions, and considering basic questions about what a good decision is. |
 |
Lukáš Konečný Lukáš Konečný is Managing Partner at Y Soft Ventures, a Czech Republic based corporate VC fund investing in Central European Hardware & IoT startups, and a member of the European Commission expert evaluator network. He started his career at JIC - South Moravian Innovation Centre, a public agency supporting entrepreneurial development, where he worked as a business consultant and a program manager. Lukáš is a prog rock enthusiast and a (bass)guitar player. |
 |
Anne Lebreton-Wolf She is a business angel investing in Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A French and European tech and deeptech startups since 2012. Mentor and expert supporting high-potential ventures. Founder of ALW Finance & Innovation, partnering with public and private stakeholders to design and implement innovation programs. Co-founder of Good Only Ventures, leading investments focused on sea-life and maritime sustainability. |
 |
Anna Maj Anna Maj is an Innovation Leader, Strategic Advisor and Board Member bringing 25 years of experience in driving deep tech and fintech innovation in Europe and in the Middle East, including C-level and NED roles. Anna is a CEO of a French fintech Bridge API specialising in AI for finance. She combines hands-on experience with a global strategic approach spanning across sectors and emerging technologies (Digital, AI, New Space), acquired in key strategic and decision-making roles on top with startup advisory and mentorship. Anna is an experienced Expert and Jury Member at the European Innovation Council, plus a Mentor for the EIC Scaling Club (Digital Security & Trust). She holds several board and advisory roles: among others Anna is a Senior Advisor at Truffle Capital. Anna has been recognised as one of the TOP 10 FinTech Influencers (2026-2022); TOP10 FinTech Innovators (2021); TOP10 Women in FinTech (2020). |
 |
Ana-Maria Oltețeanu Prof. Dr. Dr. Ana-Maria Oltețeanu is an Artificial Intelligence innovation expert with over 15 years of experience in research, teaching, and digital transformation across EdTech, cognitive systems, health and wellbeing. She has published more than 70 peer-reviewed papers, books and special issues on building AI systems that enhance human cognitive skills like creativity, problem solving, strategic thinking. She currently serves as Vice Dean of Computer Science and Informatics at a Berlin School of Business and Innovation and previously was Director of Research and Transfer at Constructor University, where she led AI-based research strategy, technology transfer, and supported the administration of research lines of around €10 million per year. Before that, she was AI Professor, Program Director AI & Sustainable Tech, and VP of Research at Tomorrow University of Applied Sciences, where she helped accredit and scale AI-related programmes and build AI-powered competency assessment and personalized learning. Ana-Maria is the founder of Wellbeing Artificial Intelligence Research, a non-profit focused on AI solutions for wellbeing, organizational innovation, and cognitive enhancement. She regularly advises startups, universities and corporates on AI‑driven innovation, in EdTech, HealthTech, legal tech, Robotics, Digital Twins, HR and People Analytics. |
 |
Elena Poughia Elena Poughia is the Managing Director of Dataconomy, one of the world's top 10 AI magazines and educational platforms, reaching 1.5 million readers per month. She is also the founder of Data Natives, Europe's largest data science and AI conference, held annually in Berlin. A passionate advocate for data privacy and AI ethics, Elena has been a founding member and advisor to various community-driven initiatives focused on innovation, impact, and entrepreneurship. She actively mentors startups through Vision Health Pioneers, tech2impact, African Tech Vision, Applied Data Incubator, WeWork Labs, and more. As a sought-after speaker, she has taken the stage at leading tech conferences, including Web Summit, 4YFN, Tech BBQ, SXSW, and MWC, and has delivered keynotes for IBM, SAP, and Google. Additionally, she has lectured on AI for Business Consultants at universities such as CBS, Hyper Island, and Esade. Her achievements have earned her recognition as a "Change-Maker Woman of the Year" by CNN in 2020 and as an emerging entrepreneur by Handelsblatt in 2018. |
 |
Eugene Smyth Eugene Smyth is an Investment Partner for Furthr VC Funds in Ireland, including the €53m AIB Seed Capital Fund where he manages the fast-growth technology portfolio. He is also an industry expert consultant on a variety of European Commission technology innovation programmes. His specialist areas include Cleantech, IOT, New Media, SaaS, DeepTech and emerging platform technologies. |
 |
Simone Vecchi Dr. Simone Vecchi holds a degree in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and a Ph.D. in Cellular, Molecular, and Industrial Biology from the University of Bologna “Alma Mater Studiorum.” With extensive experience in drug product and drug substance development, Dr. Vecchi has made significant contributions to leading pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, GSK Vaccines, and Insudpharma. He currently serves as Associate Director of Drug Product Development Scientific Integrator and CMC Leader, at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicines, where he oversees the end-to-end development of innovative drugs and overall CMC strategy. His expertise includes sterile Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) manufacturing and the development of oral solid and sterile parenteral products across various therapeutic modalities. These modalities encompass small molecules, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), and peptides, supporting innovative therapies, as well as generics and biosimilars development for various clinical phases and commercial manufacturing. Dr. Vecchi's research and development efforts have yielded to different publications in peer-reviewed journals and resulted in the issuance of three patents in the European Union and the United States. |
 |
Stephanie von Behr Stephanie von Behr is a catalyst for business growth, a connector of people and ideas, and an expert in strategy for startups. She is a serial entrepreneur, operator, and strategic advisor with over a decade of experience scaling ventures, shaping ecosystems, and translating complex ideas into clear, actionable strategies. She is the former co-founder and Managing Director of Founderland, an award-winning nonprofit supporting women of color founders, which has unlocked capital and community for over 550 entrepreneurs across 26 countries. Stephanie is currently building Entermezzo, a next-generation social restoration concept designed to bring people out of digital distraction and back into embodied connection through immersive, design-led experiences. A BMW Foundation Responsible Leader, she is a trusted voice in the European startup landscape and a strong advocate for more inclusive, human-centered innovation. |
 |