Funding

Free

Entrepreneurship•Germany · Munich · Hybrid

SDG Innovation Award

Senate of Economy Germany (Senat der Wirtschaft) with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

Application Deadline

September 30, 2026

Official Page

The SDG Innovation Award recognises organisations whose work makes a measurable contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals under Agenda 2030. It is run by the Senate of Economy Germany (Senat der Wirtschaft) together with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), whose Director-General sits on the jury and hands over the awards in person. Entries are judged in three categories — Companies, Youth & Education, and Cities, Municipalities & Districts — by an independent expert jury drawn from the UN system, academia, business and civil society.

Applying is free and possible in German or English through an online portal; the 2025 edition drew entries from 35 countries across five continents. Winners are honoured at a ceremony in Munich each December.

Benefits & funding

  • No entry fee at any stage. The organisers state the award is free of lobbying, PR messages, political influence and fees.
  • Public recognition as an SDG lighthouse project, decided by an independent expert jury whose members include the UNIDO Director-General and the head of the UN World Food Programme’s Global Office Berlin.
  • Awards handed over in person at the Munich ceremony. At the 2025 edition UNIDO Director-General Dr Gerd Müller presented the awards and the Parliamentary State Secretary at Germany’s Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space attended.
  • Visibility alongside the rest of the cohort. The 2025 list ran from Volkswagen Group and Synhelion AG to municipal governments in Portugal, China, South Korea and Belgium.
  • No cash prize or grant is published; the award confers recognition and exposure only.

Eligibility

  • Applications come from organisations. Companies, startups, cities, municipalities, districts, educational institutions, foundations, organisations and initiatives may apply; individuals cannot apply on their own behalf.
  • Companies category: entrants need a significant and innovative contribution to sustainable industrial development, with sustainable production and supply chains at the core of the business. Startups are explicitly in scope.
  • Youth & Education category: for projects that let young people take an active part in shaping a sustainable future, showing transfer of knowledge and skills, awareness and responsibility, and participation of young people in concrete measures.
  • Cities, Municipalities & Districts category: for local authorities working on sustainable urban planning, mobility, health, infrastructure, participation, resource conservation and climate protection.
  • No nationality or country restriction is stated. The 2025 round drew applicants from 35 countries on five continents, and winners were based in China, South Korea, Sri Lanka, India, Togo, Kenya, Indonesia, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany.
  • No age limits are published.
  • Applications are accepted in German and English. Every mandatory field of the questionnaire must be completed or the entry cannot be submitted.

Can you apply?

Open to all applicants

No nationality, residency, education, or experience limits are listed.

Circlebreaker is a free database of global fellowships, scholarships and programs — every one decoded like this.

We only check the criteria we have data for. Always confirm full eligibility on the official page before applying.

Application process

  1. 1
    Identify which of the three categories the project belongs to.
  2. 2
    Register on the online application portal and create a profile. The portal still carries the earlier German SDG-Award branding.
  3. 3
    Work through the application questionnaire, completing all mandatory fields.
  4. 4
    Revise the draft as often as needed before final submission.
  5. 5
    Submit by 30 September 2026. A confirmation email follows a successful submission.
  6. 6
    An independent expert jury handles nomination and evaluation against eleven published criteria.
  7. 7
    Winners are honoured at the award ceremony in Munich in December 2026.

Program timeline

  1. Application deadline; entries accepted until this date

    Sep 30, 2026

  2. Independent expert jury nominates and evaluates entries

    Autumn 2026

  3. Award ceremony in Munich; the exact date is not published

    December 2026

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