INCREASE officially receives the European Union Prize for Citizen Science 2024 at the Ars Electronica Festival

It had been announced in June 2024 that INCREASE is the winner of the EU Prize for Citizen Science 2024. During the Ars Electronica Festival that took place in Linz, Austria from 4th – 8th of September, the INCREASE team has now had the great honour and pleasure to officially receive the highly anticipated prize.

The Ars Electronica Festival, held annually, stands as an international event where science, technology, art, and ecology converge. This year's festival, themed "HOPE: Who Will Turn the Tide?", invited people from around the world to engage in interactive experiences and explore innovative ideas. On 5th of September 2024, at the Design Center Linz, the festival's prestigious award ceremony took place, where 13 esteemed prizes were presented, including the EU Prize for Citizen Science.

The EU Prize for Citizens Science rewards “outstanding citizen science initiatives that enact change, expand knowledge, and address social, political, cultural, and environmental challenges through the involvement of citizens” (European Commission).

Over the last four years, the INCREASE project has been incredibly successful in engaging citizens in its Citizen Science Experiment, one of the central pillars of its research. The project aims to foster agrobiodiversity by inviting European citizens to actively conserve and characterise diverse bean varieties through a specially designed app. The dedication and engagement of people across Europe has been overwhelming with more than 16,000 dedicated citizens participating since its inception. And the journey continues.

Through the EU Prize for Citizen Science INCREASE has been acknowledged for its outstanding achievements in advancing knowledge on seed preservation through the empowerment of civil society and citizens, in particular from rural areas.

While the project promotes agrobiodiversity and raises awareness of nutrition and environmental sustainability issues, the INCREASE Coordiantor Prof. Roberto Papa highlights also its social impact: “The INCREASE Citizen Science Experiment receives a high interest from different groups such as schools and urban gardening communities and we are incredibly happy to see how our project is uniting people around a common cause”.

INCREASE was represented at the Ars Electronica festival with an interactive exhibition. The visitors were invited to characterise beans, giving them a chance to get a taste of participating in the Citizen Science Experiment. Registration for the next round of the experiment will open in November.

INCREASE awarded with EU Prize for Citizen Science 2024

The European Commission has awarded INCREASE the “Grand Prize” of the EU Prize for Citizen Science 2024. Endowed with 60,000 EUR, the Prize recognises the project’s impact and outstanding achievements in contributing to forging a pluralistic, inclusive and sustainable society in Europe and advancing our knowledge through the empowerment of civil society.

INCREASE project coordinator Prof. Roberto Papa from the Polytechnic University of Marche, Italy expressed his gratitude, saying: “We are thrilled, honoured, and grateful to the European Commission and the Prize Committee for their recognition of our work. Their spotlight on the importance of citizen involvement in science is a testament to our shared vision of shaping the future of our societies together”. Dr Kerstin Neumann from IPK Gatersleben, who co-coordinates the INCREASE Citizen Science Experiment (CSE) on the common bean with Prof. Papa, adds: “Besides all the hard-working partners from the INCREASE project, we want to explicitly thank all stakeholders and multipliers for supporting the dissemination of the CSE across Europe. But most of all we want to thank each of our thousands of participants, who are highly motivated and dedicate a lot of time to their tasks as citizen scientists. You are a wonderful community, thank you!”.

Selected by an independent jury of experts, the winners of this second edition of the EU Prize for Citizen Science were officially announced today.

Winning this prestigious prize was made possible by the immense commitment, motivation, and dedication of thousands of European citizen scientists involved in the INCREASE project, for which the INCREASE team is incredibly grateful.

The INCREASE team will use the prize money to expand the INCREASE Citizen Science app with new functionalities and to reinforce communication measures, such as developing videos showcasing the experiment's results in plain language, events, or toolkits for schools.

The EU Prize for Citizen Science is funded under Horizon Europe, the EU research and innovation programme (2021-2027). It is run by the EU-funded project IMPETUS , which is managed by the European Research Executive Agency (REA).

Read the full press release issued by the European Commission here.

Plus, for further insights into the project activities, achievements, and INCREASE’s approach to involving citizens read an interview with Roberto Papa and Kerstin Neumann here.