Deadline: July 31, 2020.

 The Science & Technology Pioneer Award, a new thematic category launched in collaboration with Hello Tomorrow for the 2021 edition of the Cartier Women’s Initiative.

More than ever, we need to fuel innovation by women. This new award is especially dedicated to recognising women impact entrepreneurs at the forefront of scientific and technological innovation. Open to women entrepreneurs from any country and sector, this award will highlight disruptive solutions built around unique, protected, or hard-to-reproduce technological or scientific advances that require heavy R&D, a long commercialization cycle, high capital intensity, technology risk, and complexity. 

ELIGIBILITY

To be considered for the Science & Technology Pioneer Award, the applicant’s business must meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Technological & scientific innovation: The business should be based on the development of a new technology, a complex engineering process, or a scientific discovery, and not only on a disruptive business model. Development of the technology and product, from idea (TRL 1)* to commercialization (TRL 9)* should take at least 2 years.

* Technology readiness levels (TRLs) are commonly used to estimate the maturity of technologies. The framework enables consistent, uniform discussions of technical maturity across different types of technology. The detailed framework can be found on page 50 of this report.

• For-profit: the business should be designed to generate sufficient revenues to support its operations and return some level of profit to its owners. Non-profit enterprises are not accepted.

• Early-stage: The business should be in the initial phase of its development or growth.It must have at least a proof of concept, a prototype, or be in the process of producing one (minimum TRL 4) and must not be commercialising its final product/service for more than 5 years. Moreover, we are focused on companies that are majority-owned by founders and employees at the time of application.

• Impact: The business should demonstrate the potential to have a strong impact on its industry. It should meet at least one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 for the year 2030. The SDGs are a call for action by all countries to promote prosperity while protecting the environment. They cover a series of social, economic, and environmental development issues.

• Leadership: A woman must fill the main leadership position, for example as CEO, General Manager or Director of the company.

• Ownership: The founder needs to be a woman and she must be the largest shareholder of founder equity in the company or own a share at least equal to that of her cofounder(s).

• Legal entry age: The lead entrant must be 18 on the day of the application deadline.

• English proficiency: A good command of the English language is required (both verbal and written). We require the Common European Framework of Reference Level B2 and above. This level requires an understanding of the main ideas of complex text, technical discussion in business and your field of specialization and an ability to interact with fluency and spontaneity with native speakers.

• Time commitment: The candidate must commit to dedicating up to 4 hours/week virtually for the duration of the fellowship programme and to attending one week of in-person preparatory training (date TBC).

BENEFITS

The three fellows will receive:

A. FINANCIAL CAPITAL SUPPORT

• US$ 100,000 grant for the laureate (top business)
• US$ 30,000 grant for each of the two finalists (2nd and 3rd runner-up businesses)

B. HUMAN CAPITAL SUPPORT

Their fellowship programme focuses on several key areas of human capital support for women impact entrepreneurs, including developing a strategic financial mind-set, speaking to inspire, and scaling social impact.
• Community peer learning sessions
• ‘Strategic financial mind-set’ module that aims to support fellows in building their roadmap for growth
• ‘Speaking to inspire’ communication module that focuses on leadership presence and media training
• Strategy mentoring module developed by our academic partner INSEAD business school that supports fellows in refining their business strategies
• A scholarship to attend a one-week INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Programme pending admission based on INSEAD’s eligibility criteria and selection process

C. SOCIAL CAPITAL SUPPORT

Throughout the programme, we strive to highlight the social and environmental impact created by our fellows and bridge connections between women impact entrepreneurs and their supporters.
• International exposure & media visibility
• Access to an online & offline community of the Cartier Women’s Initiative and Hello Tomorrow
• Ongoing support for the development of the fellows’ businesses
• Passes to the Hello Tomorrow Global Summit and the Deep Tech Week
• Recognition by Hello Tomorrow as Deep Tech Pioneers, a label which grants fellows exclusive access to industry experts, investors and corporate partners at the Hello Tomorrow Global Summit

APPLICATION

To apply to the Science & Technology Pioneer Award, you need to complete the online application form and provide the supporting documentation listed below.

Compulsory
• Your resume
• Your business registration document
• Your pitch deck: we are not looking for a specific format, just submit an existing pitch deck that accurately describes the impact of your business. This can be an investor presentation or a product presentation (no more than 15 pages max.).
• A one-minute video of yourself in which you answer the following questions:
   – What is your motivation behind solving the problem that you have identified?
   – What is the impact you wish to create through your solution?
   – What do you wish to gain/contribute to the Cartier Women’s Initiative community?

Optional
• Three additional attachments of your choice: image of product, brochure, press, article, research, etc.

These documents must be submitted on the online portal in the “Attachments” section and cannot be sent separately by email.

OFFICIAL LINK

https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/science-technology-pioneer-award