STARTS Prize 2022

The open call for the S+T+ARTS Prize 2022 is announced, the grand prize of the European Commission honoring innovation in technology, industry and society stimulated by the arts. It is open to artists and creative professionals from around the world.

Two prizes, each with €20,000 prize money, are offered to honor innovative projects at the intersection of science, technology and the arts: The emphasis of both prizes lies on the creative appropriation and employment of technologies as well as the search for unique constellations of collaboration from the STARTS fields.

STARTS is an initiative of the European Commission to foster alliances of technology and artistic practice. As part of this initiative, the STARTS Prize awards the most pioneering collaborations and results in the field of creativity and innovation at the crossings of science and technology with the arts. The STARTS Prize of the European Commission is launched by Ars Electronica and the consortium partners BOZAR, Waag, INOVA+, T6 Ecosystems, French Tech Grande Provence and Frankfurter Buchmesse.

S+T+ARTS Prize 2022 Priorities

In its new edition, the prestigious prize not only has an expanded consortium, but also a thematic focus. The current spotlight lies on cross-sectoral projects investigating the disruptive powers of creative data and media innovation as well as on works exploring hybrid formats, groundbreaking technologies or initiatives of storytelling in next generation media.
While all outstanding examples of innovative collaborations and artistic explorations in STARTS are highly encouraged to submit their works, the 2022 priorities lie on innovative projects:

that show a novel artistic approach to data,
that play with immersive technology, interactive media, and related technological developments
that display a democratization in the use and application of data and content development and creation in the media landscape,
that are involved in user-generated content or metadata, crowdsourcing & co-creation or citizen involvement
that reveal the potentials as well as risks of the organization of contemporary data systems and media interfaces,
that manifest innovative ways in the unique creation, access and distribution of media content & platforms as well as personalized and non-linear storytelling
that exhibit new, qualitative approaches as a result of disrupting traditional media

What can be submitted?

Groundbreaking collaborations and projects driven by both technology and the arts. Purely artistic or technologically driven projects are not the focus of this competition.
All forms of artistic works and practices with a strong link to innovation in technology, business and/or society; furthermore, STARTS is not restricted to a particular genre such as media art and digital art.
All types of technological and scientific research and development that has been inspired by art or involves artists as catalysts of novel thinking.
The jury is looking forward to receiving submissions from a broad variety of fields and disciplines. Among others, projects from the areas of new media applications, human computer interaction, machine learning, biotechnology, art & science, green technologies, material research, smart cities and citizen empowerment, robotics, quantum technology and many more are very welcome to apply.
For inspiration, have a look at our broad range of winners, honorary mentions and nominations of the past years.

Who can enter?

Artists/creative professionals or the researchers/companies involved from throughout the world; STARTS is not limited to citizens of EU-member states.

When can be submitted?

The submission process for the STARTS Prize 2022 ends on March 2, 2022. The submission platform can be accessed between January 11 and March 2, 2022 at starts-prize-call.aec.at.