Sophia Antipolis, France, 8 December 2025
The ETSI Research and Innovation Awards is a new initiative that recognises the outstanding contributions of the research community to ETSI’s own standardisation work. Awards will be presented in three categories:
- A publicly funded research and innovation collaborative project that has successfully contributed to ETSI by incorporating their research outcome or innovation into a standardisation or software deliverable in ETSI.
- An individual who has successfully contributed to ETSI by incorporating their research outcome or innovation into a standardisation or software deliverable in ETSI.
- An individual under the age of 30, based on their work done for academic theses, doctoral dissertations, or other research projects that have had a direct or indirect impact on a standardisation or software deliverable in ETSI.
The first edition of the ETSI Research and Innovation Awards will be presented at the EuCNC (European Conference on Networks and Communications) & 6G Summit, held in June 2026 in Malaga, Spain.
This initiative will have broad visibility through:
- a wide communication campaign before and after the ceremony;
- a display of shortlisted nominees and award winners on ETSI research web page;
- a high-profile awards ceremony; and
- a prestigious award.
Who is eligible for an ETSI Research and Innovation Award?
A nominee shall be a delegate of an ETSI member organisation or a delegate of an ISG or SDG participant organisation who has demonstrated a significant and valuable contribution to ETSI standardisation activities as recognised by the Chair or a Vice-Chair (or both) of the relevant ETSI group. Their contribution or part of, shall be linked explicitly to an ETSI Technical Committee (TC), ETSI Project (EP), Special Committee (SC), Industry Specification Group (ISG), or Software Development Group (SDG) deliverable that is published by the time the nomination is made.
Nomination of candidates
A nominator shall be an individual representing an ETSI member organisation active in the relevant ETSI work area. The nominator shall complete the nomination form, which will be online on 6 January 2026. Every nomination shall be validated by the Chair or a Vice-Chair (or both) of the relevant ETSI group. Each nominator shall submit no more than one nomination per category, either for a person or for a project.
Details contained in nominations will remain confidential.
Nominators are not required to inform or consult nominees prior to their nomination; however, if the nominee is awarded an ETSI Research and Innovation Award, their consent will be required before publishing any details concerning them.
Award Committee
An Award Committee decides who receives an ETSI Research and Innovation Award based on clear criteria. Each nomination will be assessed on its individual merits, based on the information provided in the nomination form and on any other information at the Awards Committee’s disposal, as necessary. The decision of the Award Committee is final.
The Award Committee is composed of the GA Chair, the Board Chair, the OCG Chair, the Board Research Project Leader (for the first edition or an equivalent for future editions), and the ETSI Director-General. The Secretariat will provide support to the Awards Committee.
Current members of the Awards Committee are ineligible to receive an ETSI Research and Innovation Award, nor can they nominate.
Call for nominations
The call for nominations will be launched on 6 January 2026 and will remain open until 16 February 2026 at 18:00.
Nominations shall be submitted by completing an online nomination form, which will be available on the ETSI Research webpage on 06 January 2026 and shall justify why the nominee should be granted an ETSI Research and Innovation Award.