S+T+ARTS = innovation at the crossroads of science, technology and art: STARTS is an initiative of the European Commission aimed at fostering the alliance between science, technology and artistic practice. The focus is on people and projects that contribute to addressing social, ecological and economic challenges.
The STARTS Africa Prize highlights and rewards regional best practices in this field through the African edition of the renowned STARTS Prize. The STARTS Prize has significantly contributed to building the foundations of a community that connects artists, businesses, scientists, researchers and companies. Since 2024, this movement has been enriched by the STARTS Africa Prize.
The STARTS Africa Prize recognizes innovative initiatives that aim to have a positive social, humanitarian, economic or political impact and promote a diverse and sustainable society. Drawing on the powerful intersection of art and technology, it supports initiatives that address pressing issues on the African continent.
The STARTS Africa Prize recognizes projects that use creativity to bring about positive change and highlights examples of collaboration between individuals, collectives and organizations from different sectors. We are particularly interested in projects that focus on social challenges and promote sustainable practices on the continent.
Eligibility Criteria
The STARTS Africa Prize is offered to recognize initiatives at the intersection of art, science and technology that seek to have a positive social, humanitarian, economic, environmental or political impact and promote a diverse and inclusive society. The STARTS Africa Prize is not limited to any particular genre or field. The competition is open to all forms of creative practice, including music, visual arts and performance, film, animation, games, photography, virtual and augmented reality, design, fashion, architecture, journalism, art-science collaborations, citizen science initiatives, human. focused AI projects, social software, and much more.
The competition is open to citizens and residents of all African countries, as well as legal entities registered on the continent.
A group of artists is eligible if at least one member is an African citizen or resident and he/she is the one submitting an application. The competition is open to applications from individuals (creators, artists or other professionals), groups of individuals, legal entities (start-ups, associations, research and higher education institutions, public bodies, NGOs, companies and other legally established organisations) and groups of legal entities (research consortia, for example).
Community initiatives can only be submitted by an authorised representative. This can be an individual or an organisation, as shown above.
Each project submitted, at the time of submission, must be fully completed or sufficiently advanced for the jury to be able to assess its quality and chances of success. The same applies to cooperation agreements: at the time of submission, they must be already operational and in the implementation phase. No applications will be considered if they are only concepts, ideas or collaboration proposals.
Projects must not be more than two years old or have had a significant update or development in the last two years.
Initiatives created by or beneficiaries of entities subject to EU sanctions are not eligible. Apply (https://starts-prize-call.aec.at/2025/) on or before March 5, 2025.