Global Innovation Summit 2024: a summary

We recently held our 2024 edition of Eureka’s flagship event in Istanbul’s Haliç Congress Center on 13-14 June 2024: the Global Innovation Summit!

The event welcomed 1,855 innovators, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and policymakers from 39 countries to exchange ideas, establish partnerships and influence the future of innovation. At the Global Innovation Summit, participants enjoyed invaluable international networking opportunities, B2B meetings and an exhibition area to connect, collaborate and showcase contributions to advancing innovation.

When not networking, participants could attend keynote speeches and diverse sessions, including discussions on key themes (like creating a green and digital future, the circular economy, data dynamics and smart cities), pitching opportunities and presentations from national ministry and funding agency representatives. The 2024 Global Innovation Summit was successful in providing a comprehensive platform to engage with the latest trends, funding mechanisms and best practices in research and innovation.

This year’s Global Innovation Summit, themed Bridging Green and Digital Transformation, was organised by our Turkish Chair team at the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK).

Eureka Innovation Awards

A highlight of the Global Innovation Summit was the Eureka Innovation Award ceremony, which celebrated the standout Eureka projects that positively impact and generate value for industries and society.

The Turkish Chair defined three award categories for the 2024 edition of the Eureka Innovation Awards, and over a two-month period, accepted nominations from Eureka ministries and funding agencies. Eight shortlisted projects were invited to attend the Global Innovation Summit and offered a stand to promote their organisation and research.

In a ceremony in the plenary room, the three winners were announced and presented trophies:

• SensiScreen for best Eurostars project
• AI4Green for best Clusters project
• NonActivPans for best Network project

These projects have made breakthroughs in developing qPCR tests for detecting somatic mutations characteristic of many types of cancer, optimising telecommunications networks’ energy use based on consumption and designing antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory medical dressings.