Innovation awards run by banks and global entrepreneurship organisations state their criteria plainly, and the criteria are narrower than most applicants assume: the business must be founder-led, must have high-growth potential, must add substantial economic value through job creation, and the innovation must have the potential to change how an industry operates rather than how one company does.
Shortlists assembled against those criteria tend to look similar year to year: applied technology solving an old industrial problem, built by the people who started the company.
Changing an industry is a much higher bar than being better
A business that does something well is not innovating by this definition. One whose method, if adopted, would change how the industry works is. Applicants should be able to say what would be different across the sector if their approach became standard, and if there is no answer, this is the wrong award.
Founder-led is a deliberate filter
Requiring the founder still to be running the business selects for companies where the original insight is still driving decisions, and excludes those where professional management has taken over. That is a judgement about where innovation continues, and it means an applicant should be honest about who is actually steering.
Job creation is scored, so quantify it
Where the criteria specify economic value through employment, an application that states current headcount and projected hiring with a basis outperforms one describing potential in general terms. This is the criterion applicants most frequently leave vague.
Applied technology solving an unglamorous problem, food preservation, opinion measurement, classroom delivery, rather than consumer novelty. Deep application to an established sector scores higher than a clever product in a crowded consumer category, because the industry-change test is easier to meet.
The international panel is the actual prize
Where the winner presents to a global selection panel, that is access to a network of high-impact founders and the investors around them. It is worth considerably more than the award itself, and it is the reason to enter. Local commercialisation support runs separately through bodies including the Technology Innovation Agency.
Frequently asked questions
What do innovation awards actually require?
A founder-led business with high growth potential, measurable job creation, and an innovation capable of changing how an industry operates.
How high is the industry-change bar?
Higher than most applicants assume. Doing something well is not enough; the method must be capable of changing the sector if adopted widely.
Why must the business be founder-led?
It selects for companies where the original insight still drives decisions rather than those run by professional management.
Which criterion do applicants most often neglect?
Job creation. Stating current headcount and projected hiring with a basis outperforms general claims about potential.
What is worth most about winning?
Access to an international selection panel and the network of founders and investors around it, rather than the award itself.
Further reading
Originally published in May 2017. Updated September 2026 to set out the criteria innovation panels apply, in place of one year’s shortlist.
