SLU Alnarps and Sparbanken Skåne Innovation Award 2021

Students as well as researchers and employees at SLU Alnarp are welcome to apply, regardless of discipline. Innovations can be product-related as well as service-oriented, but can’t have reached commercial stage.

You can compete as individuals or as teams, the prize money is then shared between the applicants. If there are several people behind an idea at least one of you must be a student, researcher or employee at SLU Alnarp. Students must have at least 1 ECT at SLU Alnarp during the academic year of the competition (2021/2022)

If you are more than one person behind the idea, at least one of you must be a student or researcher at SLU Alnarp. If others have been involved in the advent of innovation or have worked on developing it, you need to reconcile with these before applying. Our recommendation is that if there are questions regarding who should apply, please apply together as the award is then shared between all applicants.

Prizes will be awarded in both the researcher/PhD-students and student categories with a total prize amount of SEK 400,000. The five awards will be distibuted to researchers and PhD students: 1st prize 150,000 SEK, 2nd and 3rd prize 75,000 SEK each and two to student prizes of each 50,000 SEK.

Together with the representative of the Sparbanken Skåne, the dean of LTV faculty will distribute the prize at a ceremony at SLU Alnarp 23 October 2024.

The prize is personal and comes without the requirement for reporting back how the grant was used. However, we would like to receive a brief summary of how the prize affected the recipients ability to continue their project 12 months after they’ve received the award. The prize money is a scholarship awarded to the main applicant from Sparbanksstiftelsen Finn and is normally not taxable. However, the recipient is responsible for making this clear with the tax authorities.

SLU Alnarp's Innovation Award is open to all ideas, but the sustainability aspect of the proposals will be central to the assessment. Our industry needs more innovations to reduce the impact on the environment and we hope that the award will be help accelerate this development.

We welcome project ideas that have not yet been developed into a commercial product or service. The assessment criteria that we will base our decision are as follows:

• Height of innovation (how pioneering is the idea and how does the innovative height compare to alternative solutions?)
• Newsworthiness
• Commercial potential or social benefit
• Implementation potential (what potential there is to move the idea forward to implementation in society / industry)

After initial selections, the jury will meet with possible award winners in order to assess the context of innovation and how the person/persons can take the idea to a commercial phase or utilization in society. Final selection will be made after the jury has taken part in these simple project presentations.

All applications for SLU Alnarp's Innovation Award are treated as confidential and the innovation will remain as the applicants property even after the competition has been completed.

Mr Lennart Wikström, entrepreneur and publicist with many years of experience in research and innovation, (Lantmännen etc)

Mr Jan Rundqvist, entrepreneur and CEO of Spannex AB. Also chairman of the industry association Foder and Spannmål.

Ms Magdalena Bergh, Innovation & Product Management Director at Lantmännen Food & Health Ingredients. Phd from SLU and thereafter a long career in various companies such as Lyckeby, Probi, Absolut, Heinz, Abdon Mills och Lantmännen.