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The Cartier Women's Initiative is an annual international entrepreneurship program that aims to drive change by empowering women impact entrepreneurs. The Science & Technology Pioneer awards recognize and fund talented impact entrepreneurs from around the world who are leveraging business as a force for good.
Opportunity Details
Open to women entrepreneurs from any country and sector, the Science & Technology Pioneer Award highlights disruptive solutions built around unique, protected, or hard-to-reproduce technological or scientific advances that require heavy R&D, a long commercialization cycle, high capital intensity, technology risk, and complexity.
FINANCIAL CAPITAL SUPPORT
• US$ 100,000 grant for each first-place awardee
• US$ 60,000 grant for each second-place awardee
• US$ 30,000 grant for each third-place awardee
HUMAN CAPITAL SUPPORT
Human capital support is structured into a fellowship program which includes a combination of 1:1 training and collective workshops.
• Leadership communications and media training workshops
• In-person INSEAD Women's Impact Entrepreneurship Program
• 1:1 training in specific business areas
• 1:1 executive leadership coaching by The Women’s Impact Alliance
SOCIAL CAPITAL SUPPORT
Throughout the program, we strive to highlight the social and environmental impact created by our fellows and bridge connections between women impact entrepreneurs and their supporters.
• International exposure and media visibility
• Support and mentorship by jury members during the fellowship
• Access to a lifelong community of 500+ active community members
• Ongoing support for the development of the fellows’ impact businesses
The Science & Technology Pioneer Award of the Cartier Women’s Initiative is looking for women-led impact-driven businesses. Entrepreneurs across all sectors and geographies are encouraged to apply. Applicants with disabilities are encouraged to apply, and every effort will be made to include them appropriately.
To be considered for the Science & Technology Pioneer Award, the applicant and the applicant's business must meet the following eligibility criteria:
Technological & scientific innovation: The business should be based on the development of a new technology, a complex engineering process, or a scientific discovery, and not only on a disruptive business model. Development of the technology and product, from idea (TRL 1)* to commercialization (TRL 9)* should take at least 2 years.
Technology readiness levels (TRLs) are commonly used to estimate the maturity of technologies. The framework enables consistent, uniform discussions of technical maturity across different types of technology. The detailed framework can be found here (page 50).
Positive impact: The business should demonstrate the potential to have a significant positive impact in its industry. It should contribute to at least one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations for the year 2030 as a universal call to tackle a range of social, economic, and environmental challenges.
For-profit: The business should be designed to generate sufficient revenue to support its operations and return some level of profit to its owners. Non-profit enterprises are not eligible. That said, the business does not have to be profitable at the time of application.
Early-stage: The business should be in the initial phase of its development or growth. It must have at least a proof of concept, a prototype, or be in the process of producing one (minimum TRL 4) and must not have been commercializing its final product/service for more than 6 years.
Leadership: The applicant must be a woman and she must fill one of the main leadership positions, for example as CEO, COO, CTO, General Manager, or Managing Director of the business.
Ownership: The business must be majority owned by its founders and team members at the time of application. Moreover, one of the following conditions must be met: (1) a woman or multiple women are the largest shareholder(s) of founder equity (not total equity), or (2) the applicant owns a share greater or equal to that of each of her co-founder(s), or (3) if not part of the founding team, the applicant owns a share greater or equal to that of the business (co-)founder(s). Sole proprietorships are ineligible for the Science & Technology Pioneer Award.
Legal entry age: The applicant must be at least 18 years of age on the day of the application deadline (June 24, 2025).
English proficiency: A good command of the English language is required. We require the Common European Framework of Reference Level B2 or above. This level requires an understanding of the main ideas of complex text, technical discussion in business and your field of specialization, and an ability to interact with fluency and spontaneity with native speakers. English proficiency is important because this is the common language for the Cartier Women's Initiative team, its partners, the jury members and the overall community. Being proficient will allow the fellow to fully participate in the community and in the fellowship.
Time commitment: The applicant must commit to participating in the fellowship program from January 2026 to December 2026. Fellows will be expected to dedicate 1 to 3 hours/week to the program. In addition to the virtual training, fellows will be expected to attend one week of in-person events in April or May 2026. Beyond the fellowship, there are also two days of on-site filming of the fellow and their business in the first quarter of 2026. Fellows will also be required to report their impact for 3 years following the completion of their fellowship.
Application: The applicant should be the author of the application. They accept only one application per business. Furthermore, a business will only be considered for one award, so pick the category where your business fits the best: refer to FAQ. Businesses that submit applications to multiple award categories will be disqualified.
To apply, you need to complete the online application form and provide the supporting documentation listed below.
Compulsory
• Your resume
• Your business registration document
• Your business capitalization table
• Your pitch deck: we are not looking for a specific format, just submit an existing pitch deck that accurately describes the impact of your business. This can be an investor presentation or a product presentation (no more than 15 pages max.).
Optional
• Your business’ competitive landscape
• 3 additional attachments of your choice: theory of change/impact framework, impact report, image of product, brochure, press, article, research, etc.
These documents must be submitted with the online application and cannot be sent separately.
Apply for Cartier Women's Initiative Science & Technology Pioneer Award