International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre (ISC3) Innovation Challenge 2026 (€25,000 total prize) – YOA

Deadline: May 4, 2026

Applications are open for the International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre (ISC3) Innovation Challenge 2026. By creating new sustainable supplies, merchandise, processes and enterprise fashions, chemistry performs a key function in reaching many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and therefore a sustainable future. To speed up the seek for options, the ISC3 launches the Innovation Challenge to have interaction, award and promote Sustainable Chemistry innovators from around the globe.

This ISC3 Innovation Challenge 2026 is asking for chemistry or chemical expertise-primarily based improvements within the discipline of electronics, that includes the next subtopics:

Innovation in Design & Performance

• Applying Eco-design rules: designing electronics for sturdiness, repairability, recyclability, and modularity with deal with chemical and supplies innovation
• Design for disassembly: utilizing adhesives, coatings, and encapsulants that may be safely eliminated or chemically dissolved.
• Reducing materials depth whereas sustaining efficiency.
• Developing extra sustainable solders, recyclable encapsulants, and solvent techniques for safer meeting/disassembly.

Innovations offering extra useful resource environment friendly use or substitution of crucial uncooked supplies and poisonous metallic species

• Alternative applied sciences for scarce and demanding parts and demanding nonrenewable sources (see Annex I a.) for particulars)
• Use of plentiful, non-poisonous, recycled / recyclable feedstocks

Sustainable Manufacturing Approaches

• Low-energy, low-waste fabrication strategies (answer processing, additive manufacturing, inexperienced solvents).
• Designing scalable, safer chemical routes producing much less waste
• Sustainable alternate options to hazardous reagents and byproducts (together with extra applied sciences)
• Development of biodegradable digital elements utilizing polymers and natural supplies.
• Addressing social points together with child labor, unsafe working circumstances, and different types of injustice.

End-of-Life & Circularity

• Chemical strategies for disassembly, selective separation, and recycling
• E-waste recycling and restoration of helpful supplies
  • Electrochemical recycling of supplies in electronics (e-waste restoration of metals like Li, Co, Au).
  • Mechanical or chemical recycling of plastic supplies in electronics
• Use of recyclable, biodegradable supplies or supplies that bear full mineralization at finish of life
  • E.g. biomaterials primarily based, biodegradable conductors and semiconductors.
• Closed-loop techniques
• Prevention of fabric dissipation

Alternative & Emerging Materials

• Organic and polymer electronics
• Advanced Materials for Electronics
  • 2D supplies like graphene, MoS₂, and MXenes: Surface chemistry impacts digital and mechanical properties.
  • Metal–natural frameworks (MOFs) and covalent-natural frameworks (COFs): Used in sensing, power storage, and optoelectronic units.
  • Self-healing or stimuli-responsive supplies for versatile electronics
• Sustainable alternate options to fossil-primarily based plastic supplies utilized in electronics, e.g.:
  •  PVC for cables, insulation, versatile components
  • ABS for casings for computer systems, printers, TV’s, keyboards, and many others.
  • PS for insulation
  • PC for optical discs, lenses, protecting covers, LED

Novel units

• More sustainable Energy Storage & Conversion Devices (Batteries, Supercapacitors, Fuel Cells)
• Organic Electronics, Photonics & Optoelectronics (OLEDs, OPVs, Perovskite photo voltaic cells, Photocatalytic units)

Benefits

Finalists will obtain:

• Tailored assist: entry to Global Start-up Service Customised Support
• Visibility: promotion of your innovation through ISC3 communication channels
• Networking: participation in a key matchmaking occasion with business in 2026
• Training: particular person and group pitch coaching for preparation of your matchmaking occasion 2026 pitch
• Cash prizes: the general Innovation Challenge Winner will obtain a money prize of 15,000 EUR. Two separate classes “Special Impact” are endowed with money prizes amounting to five,000 EUR every.

Eligibility

• Eligible are all innovators and entrepreneurs, i.e., individuals proudly owning or representing the proposed innovation, employed by organisations together with analysis institutes, begin-ups, small-medium sized enterprises, or comparable establishments energetic within the improvement and realisation of sustainable chemistry options. Enterprises taking part within the problem shall have a employees headcount not exceeding 50 (full time equal) and an annual turnover of max. 10 million Euro. Enterprises majority-owned by giant enterprises will not be eligible for the award, aside from improvements resulting in the creation of unbiased spin-offs.
• Proposals submitted by innovators and entrepreneurs from creating nations and tackling challenges in creating nations are thought of as significantly necessary. Female entrepreneurs are particularly inspired to submit a proposal.

Assessment Criteria

The proposals shall be assessed in opposition to the three primary standards:

• Innovation degree. Is the innovation distinctive, distinct, and actually unique?
• Business viability. What is the market potential of the innovation? Is the thought commercially possible?
• Sustainability. What is the sustainability impression of the innovation?

Application

Click here to apply

For extra info, go to ISC3 Innovation Challenge.