The Trophées de l’innovation, organized by the French National Research Institute IRD, is an international competition which honors and supports doctoral students and young researchers (less than five years post-doctoral) leading interdisciplinary projects. These projects offer innovative and concrete solutions with a high impact in response to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Since the launch of the competition, three editions have already taken place, with 21 nominees and 7 winners.

What's new in 2026 ?

For its 4th edition, the Trophées de l’innovation will focus on the theme:

‘Changing everyday life, building the future - committed research for women and girls.’

This year, the competition will reward doctoral students and young researcher (less than five years post-doctoral) who are developing an innovative solution that contributes to improving the lives of women and girls, at a local or global level and regardless of the field of research: health, education, food systems, the economic and political spheres, culture and society...

More information :

Rewards

Following the call for applications, 6 candidates, the Nominees, will be selected and will benefit from:

• One Science & Entrepreneurship MOOC (30 hours) ;

• Three (3) days of distance learning in project development and entrepreneurship ;

• Two (2) days of pitch coaching to prepare for the audition with the final jury (face to face) ;

• Two (2) additional days of team-building (in-person) ;

• One major event during which the nominee presents their project to an international jury ;

• Travel and accommodation expenses for the team-building days, the pitch coaching session and the award ceremony ;

• Visibility among academic and socio-economic players and the general public.

At the end of the coaching sessions, the final jury will judge the Nominees and name two Winners.

One winner will receive the Act Now Award, and one winner will receive the Transform Tomorrow Award.

Each winner will receive:

• A budget of €10,000 to fund the initial steps required to develop their project (mission expenses to set up partnerships, prototyping costs, etc.).

• Personalised support over a maximum period of 12 months to help the winners through the first stages of their project's development.

• Communication support

• High visibility : opportunities to present your project at various events, including the following year’s ChangeNow fair

Eligibility

Submission of applications is free of charge and open to all doctoral students and young researchers, under the following conditions:

• Applicants must fulfil one of the following two eligibility conditions:

  • They must have defended their thesis less than 5 years ago.

  OR

  • Be in the process of completing a doctorate

• The project must be effectively linked to research conducted by an IRD Team (IRD Research Unit, JEAI, LMI). The applicant must therefore fulfil one of the following two eligibility conditions:

  • Be part of an IRD unit or programme (Arts, UMR, LMI, JEAI) and justify this link with a letter of support signed by the director of the IRD unit concerned or by the head of the partnered research programme concerned.

  OR

  • Be part of an IRD partner research team on a project and justify this link with a letter of support signed by the scientific leader of the research team and by the IRD scientific leader on the project.

In both cases, the application must focus on the research project linked to the IRD.

Calendar

As a candidate, here are the dates to remember for 2026:

• From 12th May to 29th June 2026 (7 weeks): Call for applications

• From 15th June to 17th July 2026 (4 weeks): analysis of the applications and selection of the six (6) Nominees by the Science and Innovation Committee

• No later than 27th July 2026: announcement of results to Nominees

• At the latest 31st July 2026: Unsuccessful Candidates will receive an information e-mail

• July-September 2026: IRD will officially announce the six (6) Nominees

• Between August and September 2026: A (30) 30-hour MOOC and a (3) three-day intensive training course for the six (6) nominees

• Between October and December 2026: pitch coaching for the six (6) Nominees and evaluation of the projects by the Final Jury, then announcement of the two (2) Winners at an event to be defined, and Awards ceremony.

Evaluation Grid

The selection of the 6 Nominees and their projects is based on 4 criteria, rated on a scale from 1 (least good) to 4 (best):

1. Presentation and coherence of the solution with the sustainable development issues addressed by the IRD 

2. Response of the solution to the issues presented, added value compared to the existing solutions 

3. Involvement of stakeholders outside the academic sphere (companies, NGOs, associations, etc.) 

4. Feasibility of the solution's development path (stages, partnerships, scaling up, etc.)

The full evaluation grid is also available in the documents available on the platform.

Competition rules

You can consult the Trophées de l'innovation rules here.

The Candidate's Booklet contains the main information of the rules.

Contact

If you encounter any problems on the application platform or have any further questions, please contact us by email at tropheesinnovation@ird.fr. We will get back to you as soon as possible.

Informations about IRD research units and programmes

For a project to be eligible, it must be in line with the research priorities of an IRD unit or programme and the director must be aware of it and support it.

If you are part of an IRD unit or programme (Arts, UMR, LMI, JEAI), you’ll have to justify this link with a letter of support signed by the director of the IRD unit concerned or by the head of the partnered research programme concerned.

If you are part of an IRD partner research team on a project, you’ll have to justify this link with a letter of support signed by the scientific leader of the research team and by the IRD scientific leader on the project.

Information on the IRD's research units and partnership research programmes:

General presentation of IRD's units and programmes: https://en.ird.fr/research-organisation

Search engine listing IRD's units and programmes: https://lab.ird.fr/en/

List and information on the IRD's International Joint Laboratories (LMI): https://en.ird.fr/international-joint-laboratories-lmi

List and information on the IRD's Young Associate Teams (JEAI): https://en.ird.fr/young-team-associated-ird-jeai