Themes for 2025
The themes of the 2025 program are: electrifying society, clean energy, cybersecurity, and AI-based automation.
Awarded Projects and Participation Criteria
The program awards a research, development, or innovation project that has successfully utilized and/or promoted electrotechnical standardization. The awarded project may be a thesis, other research conducted at a higher education institution or within a project consortium, or a project that significantly advances the teaching of electrotechnical standardization.
An awarded project may include, for example:
- Identifying a new standardization target and justifying its need
- Broad or novel utilization of standards as part of a research project
- Using standards in the analysis and optimization of input data affecting energy efficiency
- Integrating energy production with a consumption device or system
- Interaction with various stakeholders (e.g., joint projects between educational institutions)
- Critical evaluation of content of standards
- Highlighting the impact of standards from the perspective of organizational benefits or competitiveness
- Other innovative and electrical safety-promoting solutions aligned with the themes
A nominated project must always relate to one of the competition themes and utilize and/or promote electrotechnical standardization. Projects are evaluated based on the criteria listed below, and participation requires that the project has an impact in at least one of the evaluation areas.
Evaluation Criteria Used in Assessment:
- Impacts of the research project (industrial, technological, social, sustainable development goals, etc.)
- Project’s impact on markets or society
- Originality and level of innovation
- Increasing the significance or role of standardization in a specific field due to the project
- Successful integration of standard development into the R&D or innovation process
- Utilization of research results (e.g., published in a scientific journal) in standardization
- Potential to use the research work as educational material
- Inspiring the next generation in electrotechnical standardization (pedagogical project)
Categories and Award Amounts
The jury primarily evaluates completed projects, but projects nearing completion may also be nominated. The program includes seven categories. The same project may only participate in one category. An award may not necessarily be granted in every category.
| TutResearch Project (University/UAS) | 1500–2500 € |
| Thesis, Doctoral Degree | 500–1000 € |
| Thesis, Master of Science in Technology | 300–500 € |
| Thesis, Engineer | 300–500 € |
| Consortium Project | 1500–2500 € |
| Individual Researcher/Innovator | 500–1000 € |
| Educational Innovator/Pedagogical Project | 500–1000 € |
The amount of the recognition award per project is scaled according to the scope of the research project/thesis/development project or the number of use cases. In large-scale projects, the individual incentive award may exceed €2500. The total value of the RDI award package is a maximum of €6000.
SESKO requires that awarded projects are presented at a separately designated event organized by SESKO during 2026. Additionally, a separate announcement about the awarded projects will be prepared by the winning organization for SESKO’s website.
Nomination for CEN/CENELEC Standards & Innovation Awards 2026 Awarded projects from the RDI Award Program may, if conditions allow, be nominated for the CEN/CENELEC Standards & Innovation Awards 2026 as Finland’s CENELEC candidates, if the competition is held in 2026.
CEN-CENELEC Standards and Innovations Awards
CEN and CENELEC organize the annual Standards+Innovation Awards program, which highlights researchers, innovators, and other actors who have promoted standardization and its utilization. In 2025, the program will be held for the seventh time.
Awards are given in several categories, such as research projects, individual researchers, and young professionals at the beginning of their careers. Additionally, the biennial recognition for technical body leaders is included again, and a new category will reward an education professional who has promoted standardization expertise in Europe.
The program is open to candidates nominated by CEN and CENELEC members. Award winners are announced at the end of the year at a knowledge valorisation event organized by the European Commission.
Apply to SESKO’s RDI 2025 Program
Apply to the program by filling out the following form: https://link.webropolsurveys.com/S/7942C1417550C751
You can also download the application form via the QR code.
The application period ends on 30 November 2025.
The SESKO Board will decide on the awarded projects by 31 December 2025.
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