STARTS Prize 2026 for young African innovators (€ 30.000 prize)

Application Deadline:  March 4, 2026, 23:59 CET

Applications are now open for the 2026 STARTS Prize. The STARTS yearly competition is back to award the most pioneering collaborations and results in the field of creativity and innovation at the crossings of science and technology with the arts. 

Win 20.000 Euros and present your work at the Ars Electronica Festival 2026

Two Grand Prizes, each with €20,000 prize money, are offered to honor innovative projects at the intersection of science, technology and the arts. The emphasis of both prizes lies on the creative appropriation and employment of technologies as well as the search for unique constellations of collaboration from the STARTS fields.

• Grand Prize – Innovative Collaboration honors innovative collaboration between industry or technology and the artistic (and creative) sectors that open up new avenues for innovation.
• Grand Prize – Artistic Exploration honors artistic research and works whose adoption by the arts has great potential to influence or change the use, application, or perception of technology.

Requirements

• Artists/creative professionals or the researchers/companies involved from throughout the world; STARTS is not limited to citizens of EU-member states.

Application Timeline:

• The submission process for the STARTS Prize 2026 started on January 7, 2026 and will end on March 4, 2026.
• The jury convenes from April 16, 2026 to April 19, 2026. All STARTS Prize 2026 winners will be notified by mid-May 2026 at the latest.

Prize Presentation

• At the Ars Electronica Festival on 9-13 September 2026 in Linz, Austria, and at various exhibitions and events of the consortium partners worldwide.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the STARTS Prize Africa