We invite all entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs in the robotics field to join the competition for the prestigious euRobotics Renaud Champion Entrepreneurship Award.
The euRobotics Renaud Champion Entrepreneurship Award is given each year at the European Robotics Forum (ERF) to the most promising start-up in robotics, as judged by a jury of robotic entrepreneurship pioneers and experts.
Entrants to the competition stand a chance to gain interest in their company from the robotics and investment community. The 2027 edition of the euRobotics Renaud Champion Entrepreneurship Award will take place as part of the European Robotics Forum 2027, 2nd – 4th March 2027 in Birmingham, UK.
Benefits of participation
Five participants will be selected as finalists. Each finalist will receive one ERF ticket and a flat-rate contribution of €800 towards travel and accommodation for one person. Finalists will pitch in the open Renaud Champion Entrepreneurship Award workshop along with a robotic entrepreneurship role model, receive a finalist diploma, and be recognized at the ERF and on euRobotics social media. All five finalists will receive one year of free euRobotics membership.
All qualified entrants will receive feedback on their pitch and project from the screening committee and an offer of a further five hours of consultancy from European-level robotic entrepreneurship experts.
The Renaud Champion Entrepreneurship Award winner will additionally receive extended coverage on euRobotics social media and in a press release, as well as receive a Renaud Champion Entrepreneurship Award winner diploma.
Sponsorship
This event is sponsored by euRobotics aisbl, Odense Robotics, BlueBotics, and Intrinsic.
Time of workshop
The finalist workshop slot is yet to be decided. It will be an open event to all registered attendees of the European Robotics Forum.
Approach
The award process is initiated with a round of private pitching and discussion sessions at which the 20 best entrants are invited to individually pitch their ideas to a panel of expert robotic entrepreneurship coaches.
These sessions will be scheduled as online meetings between 18th and 22nd January 2027 and will involve each selected entrant pitching in a 30-minute slot.
The online sessions will result in five entrepreneurs going forward to the euRobotics Renaud Champion Entrepreneurship Award workshop, where the five finalists will do a public pitch in front of a jury of robotics entrepreneurship role models and experts. This jury will then consider the presentations and declare a winner of the Renaud Champion Entrepreneurship Award during ERF.
The number of entrants will be restricted to a maximum of 20. The organising team, supported by some of the coaches, will select the 20 most promising or innovative ideas based on the application.
In order to address the confidentiality issue, it is suggested that presentations be kept to information you are happy to be in the public domain.
The organisers will ensure that no conflict of interest arises and/or take the necessary steps to immediately mitigate any conflict of interest that should arise in connection with the competition and the handling of company information.
If there is any information that you feel is essential to your presentation, but you do not want to be fully public, then this can be discussed with the coaching committee during the first sessions, but no NDAs will be signed by the coaches.
Coaching committee, jury, and role models
Qualified entrants will be followed by a team of expert coaches, who are also open to giving follow-up counselling after ERF. Robotic entrepreneurship role models and experts will form the jury and could give specific input and assistance in the further development of your investment pitch and your company.
Any applicant selected as a finalist who is also selected as a finalist in another euRobotics award in the same year will be requested to select only one award to take part in.
Participation
The participants are expected to, at least,
- have already developed an idea for a product or service, and
- done some background work in researching the marketplace in which it could be exploited, and, optionally,
- a proof-of-technology, proof-of-concept, demonstrator or similar.
Participants may be individuals or teams, with or without an established company yet.
Product and service ideas are not limited to core robotic technology but may be based on complementary technology relevant to robotics, such as mechatronics, sensing, AI, embedded computing and geoinformation, just to name a few.
Timeline and Applicant Commitment
Applicants will receive notifications of acceptance between 11th and 15th January 2027. Accepted candidates will need to be available between 18th and 22nd January to pitch in front of a jury online. The jury will choose the finalists based on the best online pitch. Finalists will be notified between 25th and 29th January.
Finalists need to confirm their attendance at the ERF 2027 by 5th February 2027 and submit their pitch slides by 28th February 2027. They will need to arrange for their own travel, but will receive €800 compensation after the ERF. Finalists travelling from the EU or other visa-exempt countries need a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) to enter the UK. Please apply in good time.
Eligibility Criteria
Companies, teams, and individuals from within the EU and EU-associated countries (including the UK, Switzerland and Norway) are invited to apply.
Judging parameters
Entrants will be coached and judged based on these parameters:
- Market Position
- Product Technology
- Scalability of Business
- Team
- Roadmap
Submission
Interested participants must send their application to entrepreneurship.award@eu-robotics.net. With the following content and information:
- Contact details (Name, company/affiliation, email, and country)
- Year of establishment of the company/initiation of the project
- A presentation/your current pitch as an attachment in PDF format
Video
Finalists will be asked to submit a video to display at the ERF award ceremony by 12th February at the latest. The video should respect the following guidelines:
- Video duration max. 30sec
- Video format – recorded in landscape mode, ideally in 1080 (Full HD), minimum requirement 720p (HD)
- Logo of your organisation: Please send the logo as a separate file in .png format with a transparent background. We can add the logo as a watermark in the corner of the video.
- Do not use any background music in the video.
- The footage should be free of rights or have approved rights for us to share it via Social Media, on our website, and live during our events.
Deadline
Applications are to be submitted by 23:59 CET on 8th January 2027. Please send your application to entrepreneurship.award@eu-robotics.net.
Important Dates and Deliveries Overview
| 08.01.2027 (23:59 CET) | Call for Applicants deadline |
| 11.01. – 15.01.2027 | Notification of acceptance |
| 18.01. – 22.01.2027 | Online Interviews (30min) |
| 25.01. – 29.01.2027 | Notifications of finalists |
| 05.02.2027 | Finalists confirm participation at ERF pitching session |
| 12.02.2027 | Finalists submit 30-second videos for the award ceremony |
| 28.02.2027 | Finalists submit their pitch slides |
| 02.03. – 04.03.2027 | ERF Pitching session takes place (date and time to be confirmed) |
Organisers
- Troels Oliver Pedersen, Odense Robotics, trp@odenserobotics.dk
- Jon Agirre Ibarbia, Tecnalia, jon.agirre@tecnalia.com
- Franziska Kirstein, fk@three-robotics.com