Konexio and Trigger.Systems, both finalists in the 2018 Social Innovation Tournament, have received prestigious awards for their high impact ventures.

Konexio won the jury’s first prize of EUR 600 000 at this year’s Google Impact Challenge France. Based in Paris, where it was created in 2016 by Jean Guo and Binta Jammeh, Konexio is developing an innovative approach to training vulnerable groups in IT and preparing them for employment. It provides IT and coding courses for digitally excluded groups, such as refugees and young people from Paris’s disadvantaged neighbourhoods, to help them access new job opportunities and promote their long-term inclusion.

Trigger.Systems received EUR 100 000 from the EIT (European Institute of Innovation and Technology) Network in Bilbao, and Sara Gonçalves, COO of Trigger.Systems, was the winner of the EIT Woman Award 2019. Trigger.Systems aims to reduce the environmental impact of irrigation and agricultural activities in Europe by tackling the excessive use of water in irrigation with control systems that use calculation models based on weather forecasts and plant conditions.