DIGITALEUROPE's Future Unicorn Award

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Since 2018, the Future Unicorn Awards stands as a beacon of excellence in Europe’s tech ecosystem. More than just a prize, it is an initiative designed to showcase Europe’s future tech champions and elevate their voices within EU policy-making circles.

At DIGITALEUROPE, we have set a bold objective in our manifesto: to double the number of European unicorns by 2030. This award is pivotal in realising that vision by providing a platform that propels companies into the next phase of growth and innovation.

The award is conducted in collaboration with 41 National Trade Associations, representing over 46,000 companies from across Europe, and the winners are announced at our yearly flagship event Masters of Digital. Since 2018, around 150 European scale-ups have been nominated to win a Future Unicorn Award.

Awards

From 2025 onwards, the Future Unicorn Award recognises excellence through two distinct categories:

Future Unicorn Award: Celebrating European scale-ups with the potential to become the continent’s next unicorn. These companies are not only contributing to the digital economy but also redefining it with their innovation and rapid growth.
Dual-Use Technology Award: This award recognises exceptional companies that develop cutting-edge technologies capable of serving both civilian and military applications. These dual-use technologies range from AI or cybersecurity to energy systems.

The Dual-Use Technology Award is delivered in collaboration with Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

Eligibility & Selection Process

The Future Unicorn Award is conducted in collaboration with 41 National Trade Associations from across Europe. Participants must be nominated by these associations and be European tech companies in the scale-up phase, having grown by over 20% per year for at least three years.

Our nominees for 2026 have been revealed

The Future Unicorn Award received 19 nominations, while the Dual-Use Technology Award got 15 nominations by our NTAs. Find out all about them below:

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Our 2026 Future Unicorn Award nominees

Our 2026 Dual-Use Technology Award nominees

The Jury for the 2026 awards

Future Unicorn Award:
- Doris Pold, Vice-President Executive Board, DIGITALEUROPE
- Eric de Montgolfier, CEO, Invest Europe
- Stéphane Ouaki, Acting Director, European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund
- Merete Clausen, Deputy Chief Executive, European Investment Fund (EIF)
- Johan Dahlfors, Partner, Bridgepoint
- Tom Wehmeir, Partner & Head of Intelligence, Atomico
- Nicolas Meier, Managing Director I EMEA Tech Investments, Temasek
Dual-Use Technology Award:
- Peter Weckesser, President Executive Board, DIGITALEUROPE
- Benedikt Franke, CEO, Munich Security Conference
- Oksana Ferchuk, Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformation and Digitalisation, Ukrainian Ministry of Defence
- Robert Vass, President and Founder, GLOBSEC
- Max Büchner, CEO, Speer Group
- Jillian Manus, Managing Partner, Structure Capital

The past editions in a nutshell

The Future Unicorn Award has been running since 2018, and the Dual-Use Technology Award since 2025, in total almost 180 companies went through the selection process. Discover them below:

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Nominated companies

Full list of 178 nominated companies since 2018

Future & Dual-Use Technology Award 2025