With the finale of the European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2024 (EEPA) now less than two months away, the 7 members of the jury assessing the entries met in Brussels earlier this month. After thorough deliberation diving into all 54 national winners, the jury shortlisted 18 initiatives to progress through the competition across 6 categories.

Ahead of announcing the shortlisted projects that are eligible to win at the European level of competition, let's meet this year's EEPA jury.

Outi Slotboom (Chair) - European Commission, DG GROW 

Chairing this year's jury is Outi Slotboom, the Director of Strategy and Economic Analysis in the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship, and SMEs. Outi's Directorate is in charge of the strategy for EU industrial policy and the Single Market, small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurship, the international aspects of industrial policy, as well as economic analysis underpinning these policies. 

Carminda Seixas – IAPMEI

Carminda Seixas is currently Head of Department for Collective Efficiency, Innovation, and Competitiveness within IAPMEI's (Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation) Entrepreneurship and Innovation initiative. Carminda represents 2023’s Grand Jury Prize Winner and is experienced in assessing and championing entrepreneurial initiatives, being responsible for managing activities such as the Enterprise Europe Network Portugal, Portugal Sou Eu V, TECH VISA, and Competitiveness Clusters among others. 

Diana Dovgan - CECOP and CICOPA 

Since 2018, Diana Dovgan has been the Secretary General of the European Confederation of Industrial and Service Cooperatives (CECOP) and the International Organisation of Cooperatives in Industry and Services (CICOPA). Diana also serves as a member of the GECES (European Commission’s expert group on social economy) and the Board of Social Economy Europe and the Social Platform, well situating her to assess the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of the initiatives across the 6 dedicated categories.

Emmanuel Pieters - SME Envoy, Belgium 

Also joining the jury is Emmanuel Pieters, Director-General in charge of SME Policy at the Federal Public Service Economy and the SME Envoy for Belgium. In his current role, and chairing the Presidency Board of the European Start-up Nation Alliance (ESNA), Emmanuel has the relevant expertise to identify effective entrepreneurial strategies identifying key results. Emmanuel hopes to have his attention caught by projects underlined by a strong entrepreneurial strategy with rapidly identifiable societal results - reflecting EEPA's aim to positively promote entrepreneurship and ESG values throughout Europe.

László Hunyadi - SME Envoy, Hungary

As Head of Enterprise Development and Grants at the Ministry for National Economy, and part of Hungary's SME Envoy, László Hunyadi is responsible for the coordination of national and EU SME policy in Hungary. László indicates that taking part in EEPA as a jury member "offers a unique opportunity to explore interesting and innovative initiatives", and accurately highlights that each finalist serves as a source of inspiration in the ways their drive Europe's entrepreneurial spirit forward. 

Marie-Claire Neill-Cowper - Committee of the Regions 

Marie-Claire Neill-Cowper is Head of Unit of the Commission for Economic Policy (ECON) of the European Committee of the Regions, in charge of SME policy, entrepreneurship, the internal market, and the digital single market. The unit also runs the yearly European Entrepreneurial Regions (EER) award, providing Marie-Claire with experience at assessing entrepreneurship at the European level. In her previous roles, Marie-Claire was the Head of Unit of the Commission for Territorial Cohesion policy and EU Budget as well as other Commissions of the European Committee of the Regions. 

Professor Thomas Cooney - Technological University Dublin

The final jury member to be announced is Thomas Cooney, Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Technological University of Dublin in Ireland. Professor Cooney is an expert in Entrepreneurship Policy, reflected in his work alongside the Irish Government, European Commission, OECD, the European Training Foundation and other international organisations.

Stay tuned to the Promoting Enterprise Futurium platform and social media channels (X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn) to find out which candidates are being put forward for the competition's shortlist, eligible to win across the 6 categories.

The winners in each category will be announced on 19 November 2024 during the awards ceremony at the SME Assembly in Budapest (Hungary), hosted by the European Commission in conjunction with the Hungarian Presidency of the EU.