Conversations with EEPA Category Winners – Greentech Procurement Accelerator

Excited to share an inside look into the minds the European Enterprise Promotion Awards! Throughout our interview series, we've engaged with winners across diverse categories at the EEPA, delving into thought-provoking discussions to uncover the motivations and visions behind their exceptional work. Join us as we conclude this series, we're proud to present the last interview featuring Category 5 winners.

The Category 5, Supporting the Sustainable Transition, was announced by Elisabeth Backteman. For this category the winner is Greentech Procurement Accelerator - ECOLAB (France). They aims to accelerate the ecological transition through public procurement of green innovations. Spearheaded by Ecolab, the initiative comprises several actions supporting the ecological transition in France.

Don't miss the final insights from these accomplished individuals. Let's dive in!

How did you first hear about the European Enterprise Promotion Awards competition and why did you decide to enter?
We heard about the EEPA award during our previous participation in the SME Assembly. In addition, in 2022, Thomas Cottinet intervened as a speaker at the SME assembly on our intervention topics. The expressions of interest towards our action gave us the idea of a candidate for EEPA. Ecolab quickly understood that it was important to participate, to take advantage of this great competition which allows us to meet people and discover projects in Europe!

How did you prepare your application?
It was a collective project: every member of the team involved in the Greentech Procurement Accelerator tools worked on it!

What do you think made your application stand out?
This is a difficult question, because the other applications were outstanding too! We perhaps were lucky enough to stand out because our project is easily replicable in Europe. Indeed, the support for innovative and sustainable businesses that the French Ministry of Ecological Transition provides in France, with all its components, can easily be transposed to other countries.

Could you tell us how you felt winning this award and what it means to you?
The EEPA Prize is, for us, a great recognition of our actions. Our dynamics, which focus on promoting public innovation markets in Europe, are a direct response to European objectives and wishes, driven by DG Grow. This prize supports French public policies and therefore encourages us to carry on! All of the other projects that have been selected were very interesting, so we felt very proud during our victory!

How has winning the EEPA Awards impacted your projects?
Winning the EEPA prize gives us new legitimacy in the actions we carry out in France, and pushes us to continue to develop! Also, the posts we published on our networks (LinkedIn) had a very strong impact, and this gave us new visibility! A European prize also attracts attention and is an opportunity to promote exchanges with other European countries. We have already been able to interact with other European ministries and public actors, after the ceremony, during the SME Assembly, to share our actions!

Why should others participate in EEEP 2024? What advice would you give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?
We strongly advise all project leaders who work to support and support SMEs to participate in the EEPA prize, because participating also means discovering other projects and benefiting from feedbacks. As the EEPA prize is part of the SME Assembly, participating in the prize allows you to discover European support initiatives, in a very large-scale event!
As an advice, we could assert that it is important to show in your application the extent to which the project is disseminable, replicable, and inspiring! The EEPA prize is above all an opportunity to highlight projects, so that other countries can draw inspiration from them locally.

Finally, we invite you to stay updated on the event on the Promoting enterprise news portal and also via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube so stay tuned. It is possible to check the photos from the event also on Promoting Enterprise | Flickr.