OVERVIEW ON THE 1st PEN-CP INNOVATION PRIZE

The PEN-CP Innovation Prize welcomes innovators of security and other customs-relevant technologies, solutions and services to share their leading-edge innovations with the European customs community. Joining the Innovation Prize contest gives the participants an opportunity to promote their customs-relevant technologies and to get a better understanding of the challenges that customs administrations face today, amid the growing international trade, changing security landscape, increased responsibilities, and louder calls for trade facilitation.

The Innovation Prize is awarded to the contestant with the most useful, original innovation that has already demonstrated its value to customs operations (Track #1) or that has the largest potential to benefit customs administrations in the future (Track #2). The Innovation Prize is managed by the Pan-European Network of Customs Practitioners (PEN-CP), and the winners are chosen by a team of PEN-CP customs practitioners as well as external experts.

The 1st PEN-CP Innovation Prize, PIP-2022/23, is officially launched during the WCO Technology Conference and Exhibition lunch event, in Maastricht, the Netherlands, on Tuesday 18 October 2022 ( https://na.eventscloud.com/website/35016/ ). PEN-CP has also a pleasure to cooperate closely with the European Start-up Network, particularly when it comes to reaching out to innovator communities in Europe and beyond ( https://europeanstartupnetwork.eu/ ).  The primary PEN-CP Online Platform  web-link to announce and administer the call for submissions is the following: https://pen-cp.sym.place/groups/profile/302707/pen-cp-innovation-instruments-and-innovation-events

SCOPE FOR SUBMISSIONS

The scope of the Innovation Prize is broad by design because the freedom of scope gives the contestants opportunity to propose solutions that can surprise customs by their originality and creativity. Following three topics of high customs interest can be mentioned for inspiration.

• One topic of interest is data analytics that can help customs to manage large volumes of information and unlock data-driven decision-making for more effective coordination of customs operations. 
• Next, advancements in detection technologies are interesting for customs administrations that are always looking for better ways to control goods without slowing down the pace of cross-border traffic. 
• A third key topic of high interest concerns new pieces of laboratory equipment that allow faster and more reliable identification of goods or that come with more portable, robust or user-friendly designs. 

In any case, the contestants are encouraged to present solutions for addressing any and all customs challenges, also outside these three illustrative topics.

TWO SUBMISSION TRACKS

Track #1 — Products & services already in use by customs

The first track of the Innovation Prize is about any product or service, which has already demonstrated its value for customs operations, in terms of effectiveness, cost-efficiency, practicality, or other advantages. As part of the application, the contestants should provide a brief description of their product and/or service, state the benefits of their innovation for customs operations, and describe how their innovation is currently used by customs.

Track #2 — Products & services not (yet) in use by customs

The second track is about any product or service, which is not yet used by customs but which could be adopted by customs in the near future (for example, a product or service currently sold to / used by other governmental or private sector actors). Applicants should describe their product and/or service and explain how their innovation could add value to customs operations. 

Please note each applicant can make only one submission per track!

FACTS AND GUIDANCE

• Who can participate? Start-ups, scale-ups, SMEs, large and any other type of  companies with innovative products and services of any size and sector (no geographical restrictions apply).
• Schedule: The PIP-2022/23 submissions can be made between 18th October 2022 and 17th March 2023 (= the call is open for 5 months)
• How to participate? As the first step, send an “PEN-CP Innovation Prize — Expression of Interest” email to pen-cp@cross-border.org and pen-cp-arttic@eurtd.com (please include both email addresses). Detailed instructions on the submission protocol, including web link to the submission page, will be sent back to you.
• Format for describing the innovations: For both Track #1 and Track #2, please aim for a 1-2 page summary document (maximum length is 3 pages). Technical details, illustrative diagrams etc. can be added as annexes (no page limit on annexes)
• Submission language: English
• Evaluation process: The submissions will be evaluated and ranked by a team of PEN-CP customs practitioners as well as external experts
• Scoring criteria - Track #1: Innovation originality & realized value for customs operations
• Scoring criteria - Track #2: Innovation originality & potential value in customs context 
• Winners of both tracks will receive: a PEN-CP trophy; and, small financial contribution ; and, broad visibility and publicity among European and global customs communities.
• Limitations: each applicant can make only one submission per track!

For more information: please feel free to contact the activity leader Ron Roelofs of the Customs Administration of The Netherlands: rkw.roelofs@douane.nl

Please view the source page for this call for all additional information.