Tolocar/Makers Innovation Award

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The Makers Innovation Award (MIA) organized by Tolocar aims at fostering collaboration among makers (tech enthusiasts, engineers, designers, crafters) who join forces for social impact and innovation.

In 2024, seven project ideas showcasing the greatest potential to achieve these aims secured 50,000 Euro of prize money each and benefit from personalized mentoring sessions to enhance their capacities and refine their project concepts further. Experienced mentors provided the winners with the necessary support during three joint mentoring sessions on legal issues, project management, and a training game on refining and enhancing the original project ideas. Additionally, the teams had individual mentoring sessions that were aimed at tackling the most pressing and relevant questions for their project implementation processes.

The winning projects were selected based on the following criteria:

• Social Impact: How big is the social impact the idea can create?
• Feasibility: How feasible is it for the team to implement the idea?
• Scalability: To what extent can the idea be expanded/ scaled to many people?
• Innovativeness: What is the level of innovation? How new or different is the idea?
• Sustainability: Does the project have a mature idea to sustain itself eventually?
• Team: Is the team for the implementation of the project well positioned in terms of motivation, cohesion and background knowledge?

The role of a Jury Member for MIA is pivotal in the selection process and includes the thorough review and evaluation of applications submitted by participants. From all applications, the 15 most promising teams were selected and had the opportunity to present their ideas concisely and convince the jury at the Pitch Event. The 5-member expert jury panel selected seven teams as the winners of the award amounting to EUR 50,000 each. The jury consisted of the following members:

• The head of the jury of Makers Innovation Award - Valeriya Ionan, the Deputy Minister for Eurointegration at the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine
• Alina Nosenko is the head of strategic partnerships at PHINEO. Alina has more than 12 years of experience in organizational development and strategic partnerships, she is a systemic business coach, dedicated to fostering holistic growth and effectiveness within NGOs.
• Yevheniia Talinovska is a co-founder of the NGO-volunteer headquarters (public organization) Zgraya. Since 2014, “Zgraya” has been providing the military with all necessary assistance. It has also opened a tailor shop for sewing tactical gear and conducts a physical rehabilitation program for soldiers after injuries.
• Volodymyr Orlov is a Global Impact Ambassador, regional manager for Innovation and Digital Transformation at Cisco, adjunct professor at KMBS, CCIE#11791 Certified Networking Expert, director of Cisco Azerbaijan 2013-2021
• Roman Zinchenko has numerous innovation awards and is the co-founder of Greencubator that became a meeting point for Ukraine’s sustainable energy community, a launchpad for new green ventures, a social innovations accelerator, and a manager of grant programs for climate-positive SMEs

• Molodozhni Vitryla: The project “Vitryla Maker Space” aims to increase the interest of young people in technical sciences, to link attention to the local maker community and promote the development of entrepreneurship and innovation

• It's Craft: The project “Mythologization and modernization of the Tripillia culture” aims to create a large circle of like-minded people who, through synergies, will implement the idea of a renewed Ukrainian identity based on the Tripillia culture in different ways.

• CultGroup: The project “STR Lab Polytechnic” aims to set up a laboratory for research into sustainable recycling technologies, where students from related disciplines can gain practical experience in using digital production tools using the example of designing industrial processes.

• Eco misto Chernihiv: The project “Plastic Fantastic LAB” aims at its own production of plastic processing equipment, expanding the geography of plastic processing workshops, and promoting sorting, recycling and production in Ukraine.

• Molod' Online: The project “Skin Open Source (SOS)” aims to cheapen and disseminate biotechnologies, applying the principles of “do-it-yourself biology” and “citizen science”, especially attracting young people to the DIY biotech movement.

• HackLab: The goal of the project “HackLab 2.0” is to create an inclusive workshop where creative enthusiasts developing startups have a space for experiments and rapid prototyping and can quickly acquire practical skills for working with modern equipment.

• Kolo: The aim of the project “Galician Makers” is to set up two workshops based on Fablab approaches, where experience and expertise in educational institutions through training and workshops teach project thinking and project skills as well as engineering thinking

The “Makers Innovation Award” is organized by betterplace lab gGmbH and Future Challenges e.V. in the framework of #TOLOCAR, a project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH with support of HIWW in close collaboration with Ukrainian and international partners.