{"id":11090,"date":"2026-07-14T12:06:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T12:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paprac.org\/?post_type=news&#038;p=11090"},"modified":"2026-09-01T14:48:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T14:48:58","slug":"launch-of-the-5th-edition-of-the-wemed-award-calling-green-and-social-entrepreneurs-from-the-mediterranean","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/paprac.org\/hr\/novosti\/launch-of-the-5th-edition-of-the-wemed-award-calling-green-and-social-entrepreneurs-from-the-mediterranean\/","title":{"rendered":"Launch of the 5th Edition of the WeMed Award: Calling Green and Social Entrepreneurs from the Mediterranean"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The WeMed Award, a flagship initiative of the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD), launched by MedWaves under UNEP\/MAP, is opening its 5th edition. The award recognises entrepreneurs and sustainable business models that generate environmental, economic and social value across the Mediterranean region, while fostering the replication and scaling-up of eco-innovative solutions carried by the community of &#8220;Switchers.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A new focus: the nexus between green and social innovation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following a 4th edition dedicated to the Sustainable Blue Economy, and previous editions centred on Green Entrepreneurship, Circular Textile &amp; Fashion, and Green Business Support Ecosystems, the 5th edition of the WeMed Award focuses this year on the&nbsp;<strong>nexus between green and social innovations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Timeline<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>1 July 2026<\/strong>: applications open, for a period of 30 days<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>September 2026<\/strong>: shortlisting of finalists<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>2 November 2026<\/strong>: award ceremony in Barcelona, held during a high-level event<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who can apply?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 2026 edition is open to early- and growth-stage &#8220;Sustainable Business Models,&#8221; as defined in decision IG.25\/18, adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Barcelona Convention (Antalya, 2021). Eligible applicants are entities legally constituted in the geography covered by the Switchers Fund (EU regions with a GDP below 70% of the EU average, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Lebanon, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, and T\u00fcrkiye), whether corporate entities, cooperatives, or self-employed individuals with up to 250 employees or members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two categories are open:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Early stage<\/strong>: businesses operational for a maximum of 3 years, showing potential environmental and social benefits;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Growth stage<\/strong>: fully operational businesses established between 3 and 10 years ago (or more, in the case of a recent shift to a sustainable model), demonstrating quantifiable environmental and social benefits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each category carries a&nbsp;<strong>cash prize of \u20ac20,000<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Evaluation criteria include the reduction of environmental impacts, eco-innovation and eco-design, the response to social needs, the economic viability of the business model, as well as, as desirable criteria, gender-inclusive governance and working conditions, and the potential for replicability and scaling-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>More than just an award<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beyond the financial prize, winners benefit from technical and financial support through the Switchers Support Programme and the Switchers Fund, join a Mediterranean community of changemakers advocating for a fairer, greener Mediterranean, and take part in co-created awareness-raising campaigns promoting the social and circular economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The WeMed Award in numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since its creation, the WeMed Award has recognised&nbsp;<strong>15 winners<\/strong>, received over&nbsp;<strong>200 applications<\/strong>&nbsp;from&nbsp;<strong>22 Mediterranean countries<\/strong>, awarded&nbsp;<strong>\u20ac157,000<\/strong>&nbsp;in prizes, and reached more than&nbsp;<strong>6 million users<\/strong>&nbsp;on social media. Past winners include Green Fashion (Egypt), Grade A+ (Lebanon), Rif\u00f2 (Italy), Irwise (Tunisia), Chitelix (Tunisia) and Ecoprod (Morocco).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More information and applications at:&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wemedaward.org\/\">www.wemedaward.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11091,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"class_list":["post-11090","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paprac.org\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/11090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paprac.org\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paprac.org\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paprac.org\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paprac.org\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}