Innovation Award
Encourage and promote innovative initiatives by the 5 Research Centers at the University of Montpellier (UM)—that is the goal of the “Innovation Award.” Each year, this call for projects, open to staff at UM and partner institutions of the ISITE Program of Excellence (PEI), recognizes the best initiatives in the field of innovation. The 2026 Innovation Awards ceremony is scheduled for July1 at the Jardin des Plantes in Montpellier during an Innovation Afterwork event.
If you are a researcher working on a collaborative research project, an intellectual property transfer initiative, a startup, or a high-impact innovation, don’t wait any longer— apply for the “Innovation Award.”
Target audience
Researchers or groups applying for the “Innovation Award” must be permanent or non-permanent staff members of an institution that is a member of the ISITE Program of Excellence (PEI).
Applications must include a resume in PDF format and be submitted by email.
allocated funds
Each winner will receive a personal prize of €3,000 (three thousand euros), which will be awarded at a ceremony.
In the case of a group nomination, the €3,000 prize will be divided among the members of the group.
The winners will also receive a 3-minute professional video that will serve as a valuable communication tool for the teams (for institutional distribution, social media, presentations to companies and investors, etc.).
Awards
During the awards ceremony, the jury will select a total of 7 (seven) winning projects:
- 5 (five) awards related to the research clusters;
- 1 (one) Métropole Entrepreneurship Award or Deep Tech Métropole Startup Award;
- 1 (one) "Coup de Cœur" Award (interdisciplinary award).
The jury
The “Companies and Campus” program coordinator, along with the commercialization and scientific advisors, are responsible for evaluating the applications. The program coordinator will submit the applications to COMIN for a decision.
The COM’IN is a body composed of:
- representatives of the founding institutions of the PUI;
- representatives of the recycling subsidiaries;
- directors of research clusters or their representatives;
- guests, designated scientific or technical experts.