The STARTS Prize 2019 is now open. This is the grand prize of the European Commission honoring Innovation in Technology, Industry and Society stimulated by the Arts.

Appointed by the European Commission, Ars Electronica, BOZAR and Waag are launching a prize to select the most pioneering collaborations and results in the field of creativity and innovation at the crossings of science and technology with the arts. This follows the launch of a new activity in the European Commission named STARTS: Innovation at the nexus of Science, Technology and ARTS.

Science, Technology and Arts (=STARTS) form a nexus with an extraordinarily high potential for creative innovation. And such innovation is considered to be precisely what’s called for if we’re to master the social, ecological and economic challenges that Europe will be facing in the near future. The role of artists thus is no longer seen to be just about propagating scientific and technological knowledge and skills among the general public but much more as a kind of catalyst that can inspire and trigger innovative processes.

The artistic practice of creative exploration and experimental appropriation of new technologies has a wide reaching potential to contribute to the development of new products and new economic, social and business models. Accordingly, the STARTS Prize focuses on artistic works that influence or change the way we look at technology, and on innovative forms of collaboration between the ICT sector and the world of art and culture.

Prizes

Two prizes, each with €20,000 prize money, are offered to honor innovative projects at the intersection of science, technology and the arts: one for artistic exploration, and thus projects with the potential to influence or change the way technology is deployed, developed or perceived, and one for innovative collaboration between industry/technology and art/culture in ways that open up new paths for innovation.

• Grand Prize – Artistic Exploration Awarded for artistic exploration and art works where appropriation by the arts has a strong potential to influence or alter the use, deployment or perception of technology.
• Grand Prize – Innovative Collaboration Awarded for innovative collaboration between industry or technology and the arts that opens new pathways for innovation.

Eligibility

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

They are looking for:

• groundbreaking collaborations and projects driven by both technology and the arts. Purely artistic or technologically driven projects are not the focus of this competition.
• all forms of artistic works and practices with a strong link to innovation in technology, business and/or society; furthermore, STARTS is not restricted to a particular genre such as media art and digital art.
• all types of technological and scientific research and development that has been inspired by art or involves artists as catalysts of novel thinking.

Criteria

• Quality of the artistic research and its potential influence on technology
• Quality and success of the collaboration between art and technology
• Quality and intensity of the connection to innovation, education, social inclusion or sustainability
• General criteria such as aesthetics, originality, convincing concept, innovation and the technique and quality of the presentation

Application

• Every submitted project must be, at the time of its submission, either totally completed or far enough along for the jury to be able to assess its quality and the likelihood of it being successfully implemented. The same applies to collaborative arrangements—at the time they’re submitted, they must already be up-and-running and in the implementation stage. No consideration will be given to entries that are purely concepts, ideas or proposals for collaboration.
• Projects should not be older than two years or have to show a significant update or further development within the last two years.
• There is no fee to enter the STARTS Prize 2019 competition.
• Every submission to the Prix Ars Electronica prize competition can also be entered for STARTS Prize consideration. In other words, it’s possible for a single project to win both the STARTS Prize 2019 as well as a Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica grand prize. How does this work? It’s totally easy—at the end of the Prix Ars Electronica online submission, simply check the appropriate box!

All STARTS Prize 2019 winners will be notified in May 2019 at the latest. The winning projects will be presented at the Ars Electronica Festival in September 2019 in Linz, Austria, at the BOZAR Electronic Arts Festival in September/October 2019 in Brussels, Belgium, at Waag in Amsterdam, Netherlands and at various partners worldwide.

Click here to apply.

For more information, visit STARTS Prize.

Deadline: March 1, 2019