H&M Global Change Award 2023: reveal ideas that can turn the fashion industry planet positively.
The H&M Foundation is a non-profit foundation, initiated to co-create, fund, and share solutions for the world’s most urgent challenges. Sprung from a strong entrepreneurial heritage, it is at its core to disrupt traditional systems through unexpected collaborations. To help safeguard the welfare of humanity, H&M Foundation is ushering the fashion industry to become planet positive and to accelerate development for inclusive societies.
Accelerate change in the fashion industry
The Global Change Award is the world’s largest innovation challenge to transform the fashion and textile industry. Called the ‘Nobel Prize of Fashion’, it is part of transforming fashion and turning the entire industry planet positive. Innovators and entrepreneurs are called to apply for the GCA 2023. Five winners share a grant of 1 million €, provided by the H&M Foundation, and get access to the one-year-long GCA Impact Accelerator.
“The Global Change Award has become a force to support early innovation and accelerate the transformation of our industry. It attracts some of the most disruptive and creative people I have ever met, and following their development is really impressive. I am excited to see what game-changing innovations the seventh round generates.”
– Karl-Johan Persson, board member of H&M Foundation and Chairman of H&M Group.
The Global Change Award is one of the world’s leading challenges for early-stage innovation and the largest of its kind in the fashion industry. Since its start in 2015, several former GCA winners have scaled up their innovations and are now helping drive the planet’s positive development forward. Neither the H&M Foundation nor the H&M Group takes any shareholder equity or intellectual property rights in the innovations. The winners can collaborate with whomever they want, and the aim is to find innovations that allow major change for the entire industry. For GCA 2023, the H&M foundation is updating our scope to cover more ground, raise the bar on innovation and help shift the industry into a planet-positive one. The winning innovations or solutions should fall into one of three categories:
- Regenerate. Solutions toward positive effects
- Repurpose. Solutions toward circularity
- Reimagine. Solutions we have not even thought of yet
Collective intelligence fosters innovation for Good
A panel of experts will select five winners who get to share a 1 million € grant and get access to the one-year-long GCA Impact Accelerator program, which includes invaluable coaching and support from the H&M Foundation and their partners Accenture, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and The Mills Fabrica. The program is tailored to support each team in developing and scaling their innovation for impact. The application period runs from 20 October 2022 to 8 December 2022 and the winners will be announced in June 2023.
“We are particularly proud to be operating this innovation competition launched by H&M Foundation. This essential transformation process is done with the contribution of everyone, the group relying on collective intelligence to generate a greater impact.”
– Christophe Pingard, Agorize CEO
Founded in 2011, Agorize helps global enterprise companies accelerate the innovation process from concept to full-scale implementation. Agorize’s 300 clients uncover value-creating ideas and talent using the most comprehensive innovation management platform, connected to a community of innovators and supported by a team of experts.
Discover the winners of the previous Global Change Award – and find out how their innovations are reinventing the fashion and textile industry.
