Once again, Budapest became Europe’s capital of innovation on 25 November 2025, as the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) gathered entrepreneurs, researchers, educators, and industry leaders for this year’s EIT Innovation Awards and the  EIT Jumpstarter Grand Finale.  

With a record-breaking 908 applications, the 2025 edition marked the most competitive year in EIT Jumpstarter’s history. From this pool, 42 early-stage teams from 17 countries reached the Grand Finale, showcasing solutions created through months of intensive training, mentoring, and business model development. 

Since its start in 2017, EIT Jumpstarter, EIT’s flagship pre-acceleration programme has created 140 startups, trained over 1,200 participants, generated more than 2,000 new jobs, and attracted roughly €150 million in external investment.   

Smart Cities & Mobility: Meet the 2025 Winners 

The Smart Cities & Mobility category once again highlighted the power of technology and entrepreneurship to redesign how citizens move through and experience urban environments. Three standout teams climbed the podium: 

🥇 Winner – SmartRoads (10,000€ prize) 

The Portuguese team from SmartRoads impressed judges with a transformative solution designed to optimise road utilisation, safety, and traffic flow through intelligent, real-time data analytics. By integrating advanced sensors with dynamic road management systems, SmartRoads offers cities a scalable tool to reduce congestion, enhance safety, and support evidence-based mobility planning. Their win underscores the growing demand for digital infrastructure that can upskill Europe’s  mobility landscape. 

🥈 Runner-up – BridgeAID (5,000€ prize) 

BridgeAID developed a cutting-edge remote monitoring solution for bridges and elevated urban structures. At a time when ageing infrastructure poses ongoing safety and economic challenges, the Hungarian tool from BridgeAID’s empowers municipalities to detect structural issues early. It also helps to prioritise maintenance, and prevent costly failures. Their innovation stands at the intersection of safety, sustainability, and smart city resilience. 

🥉 Runner-up – SignalWings (2,500€ prize) 

Can you envision flying pigeons in your city while they enhance the security of the IoT networks? This is the outstanding idea from the Serbian startup SignalWIngs. They create 3D vulnerability maps of urban IoT networks, using lightweight mobile sensors carried by trained pigeons. In this way, cities and telecoms can find weak spots before attackers do. As urban skies grow busier, SignalWings’ contribution is critical to ensuring seamless, regulated, and efficient drone-based services. 

These three startups reflect the diversity and ambition of the fast-growing European urban mobility sector — a space where data, automation, and safety converge to improve quality of life. 

You can read here the rest of the winners competing for different categories. 

Spotlight on the EIT Awards 2025 

The EIT Innovation Awards celebrated excellence across four categories: 

• EIT Changemaker Award – Winner: Laura Laringe (Germany), for advancing battery life and performance through reLi Energy’s smart software. 

• EIT Innovation Team Award – Winner: AI Automated Industrial Analytics (Italy), for a human-centric AI platform for manufacturing. 

• EIT Venture Award – Winner: ABLE Human Motion (Spain), for accessible exoskeleton technology. 

• EIT Public Award – Winner: ABLE Human Motion (Spain). 

These achievements demonstrate the breadth of innovation within the EIT community, spanning energy, health, manufacturing, and digital transformation. 

Celebrating Diversity and Resilience: Red Kalyna Awards 

The event also honoured Ukrainian women innovators through the EIT Red Kalyna Awards, which recognise the extraordinary leadership of entrepreneurs, researchers, and mentors driving societal progress under the strain of Russia’s ongoing war of aggression. Their work highlights the resilience and strength of Ukraine’s innovation ecosystem. Learn about this year’s winners here. 

EIT Water launched and new countries joining the Regional Innovation Booster

Alongside with multiple awards, the Budapest event also enclosed some remarkable announcements. 

The stage welcomed the winners of the consortium of EIT’s tenth KIC. EIT Water will adopt an integrated approach across freshwater, marine and maritime environments, supporting entrepreneurial education and skills development, innovation projects, and business creation.  

Another highlight moment was the signature of a new Memorandum of Understanding between the EIT and the Government of Malta. The agreement paves the way for launching the EIT Regional Innovation Boster pilot in Malta from 2026, supporting even more the country’s innovation ecosystem. 

_{Silvio Scerri, CEO at Xjenza Malta, and Martin Kern, EIT Director, signing the MoU}

Following the same path and just a week later, on 2 December, the EIT and the Hungarian Ministry of Culture and Innovation have renewed their cooperation by signing an updated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), confirming that Hungary will also join the EIT’s Regional Innovation Booster pilot from 2026. Learn more about the Regional Innovation Booster.