About the SEED Awards

About the SEED Awards

Wednesday, 13 August 2008 12:13

Revealing a wealth of innovative ideas

Please note: Applications for the 2009 SEED Awards are now closed. We will give advance notice of the next call for proposals in spring 2010. Please do not send submissions until the call is announced. If you wish to be notified when the call for 2010 SEED Awards is opened, please subscribe to the SEED newsletter using the form at the bottom of this page.

The SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development is an annual international competition, designed to support locally-led, innovative, entrepreneurial partnerships in developing countries which have the potential to make real improvements in poverty eradication and environmental sustainability.

The SEED Initiative assists young and promising initiatives, like these previous Award Winners, to strengthen and scale-up the impact of their activities. Unlike most other competitions, the SEED Award does not carry a money prize. Instead a range of services, support and connections are offered through SEED's Support Programme, to give Award Winners every prospect of success.

The support services respond to the challenges that emerging partnerships face when planning and implementing new ideas, including access to relevant expertise and technical assistance, meeting new partners and building networks, and developing business plans and identifying sources of finance. For more details see here.

The SEED Awards recognize and reward two levels of winners:

• Award Winners, which are announced every year at the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development in New York. They are publicized and profiled through SEED’s network and receive business and partnership support services, worth US$5,000, to help connect them with potential partners and funders.
• Gold Award Winners, selected from the Award Winners, which receive additional business and partnership support services over a period of up to 12 months, to help them scale up. The services are worth US$35,000, of which US$25,000 is managed directly by the Winner. The nature of the support services is developed jointly with each Winner, responding to the needs that they identify. SEED then helps to locate or provide those services, drawing on local sources wherever possible. In addition to receiving support services, Gold Award Winners are celebrated at SEED Awards ceremonies in their home countries.

The 2009 Awards are managed by Adelphi Research, based in Berlin, Germany.