The Schweighofer Prize is donated by the Austrian Schweighofer family, who has been engaged in the European woodworking industry for generations. Since 2003 the award is presented every second year, and is endowed with a total prize money of € 300,000. The Schweighofer Prize awards innovative ideas, technologies, products and services in order to strengthen the competitiveness of the European Forest Based Sector.

All natural persons or groups of individuals as well as organisations are eligible to participate. The applicants have to fulfil all conditions in form and content. The most important requirement is the obvious benefit for the European Forest Based Sector.

MAIN PRIZE

The Main Prize awards people who have shown outstanding performance for the European Forest Based Sector over an extended period of time.
The Main Prize is endowed with € 100,000.–

• The previous achievement of the candidates has still a positive effect on the European Forest Based Sector
• The candidates have to be proposed by any third party

INNOVATION PRIZES

Innovations prizes are granted for promising innovative projects, which still may be in stage of implementation.
The total prize money is € 200,000 that is mostly shared between three to six prize winners.

• The projects have to show obvious and verifiable innovation compared to the current state-of-the-art
• A realistic and structured implementation concept has to be presented
• The applied innovation has to be appropriate for a European wide (industrial) implementation
• The submissions have to be prepared by the candidates themselves

SCOPE OF TOPICS

The Schweighofer Prize covers almost the whole range of topics relating to the European Forest-Wood-Chain, excluding the pulp and paper sectors. As the Schweighofer Prize explicitly enhances multidisciplinary and close cooperation between industry and research there is no strict classification of topics. The examples below serve as orientation general, introduction.

• Innovative processes and technologies enhancing sustainable availability and efficient use of forest biomass
• Improved methods for sustainable forest economy and wood supply
• Advanced technologies for primary wood processing
• Innovative manufacturing methods and technologies for wood products
• Innovative wood products and systemic solutions in the fields of housing and construction
• New packaging solutions using wood
• New possibilities of using wood and its components; this includes engineered wood products and hybrid solutions, where wood as key component is clearly visible
• New recycling concepts and recycled products made of wood
• Innovative multinational co-operation initiatives enhancing communication and R&D within the whole value chain of wood
• Leading education and training measures in order to strengthen the European competence in wood and wood products- Novel innovation systems and service facilities as well as networks for wood and wood products on a European level