European Commission STARTS Prize submissions open
(Linz/Brussels, January 10, 2019) Technologists, artists, scientists, institutions, labs, and companies can now submit their projects for this year’s STARTS Prize, part of the European Commission’s STARTS Initiative. The prize is awarded for innovative work at the interface of science, technology, and art. The STARTS Prize 2019 is being announced by Ars Electronica, BOZAR, and Waag on behalf of the European Commission. In addition to the coveted STARTS Prize trophy, the winners can look forward to prize money of 20,000 euros as well as appearances at the Linz Ars Electronica Festival, at BOZAR in Brussels, at Waag in Amsterdam, and at various events organized by partner institutions. The aim is to find trend-setting projects between science, technology, and art that contribute to scientific and social innovation. Entries can be submitted until March 1; participation is free of charge. The awards will be presented at the Ars Electronica Gala in Linz at the beginning of September.
Prizes in two categories
The STARTS Prize is part of the European Commission’s STARTS Initiative and is awarded in two categories: The Grand Prize – Innovative Collaboration honors innovative collaboration between industry or technology and the arts that opens new pathways for innovation. The Grand Prize – Artistic Collaboration is awarded for artistic exploration and art works where appropriation by the arts has a strong potential to influence or alter the use, deployment, or perception of technology. All nominations will be judged by a jury that will select two winning projects and up to 10 notable mentions.
A broad spectrum of submissions
The projects honored so far bear witness to the great diversity of the works submitted to the STARTS Prize: These range from a fully functional 3-D printed steel bridge for the city center of Amsterdam to a do-it-yourself kit for breeding lactobacillus bacteria for vaginal flora to fashion design that blends nature and technology. Since 2016, the STARTS Prize has been awarded to the Artificial Skins and Bones Group (GER), Iris van Herpen (NL), Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich (CH) and Self-Assembly Lab at MIT (USA), Etsuko Yakushimaru (JP), MX3D & Joris Laarman Lab (NL), and Giulia Tomasello (IT).
The European Commission’s STARTS Initiative
In order to survive in global competition and to shape society in a positive and sustainable way, Europe is dependent on innovation. With their alternative research methods and critical points of view on technology, artists can make a decisive contribution to innovations and technologies that are human-centered and sensitive to society. In this way, the arts can act as a catalyst for the application of scientific and technological knowledge about new products, services, and approaches in society, research, and business. In order to fully involve artists at the interface of science, technology, and art in European innovation processes, the European Commission has launched the STARTS initiative.