Elia Group’s Open Innovation Challenge puts human capital at the heart of the energy transition, focusing on creating a safe and productive work environment

• This year’s challenge is open to start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and more mature innovation partners worldwide.
• The deadline for submissions is 24 July 2025, and the winning team will be announced on 4 December 2025 in Brussels.
• Elia Group is seeking breakthrough innovations in the field of people-centric solutions, with a focus on areas such as knowledge transfer, cultural change, safety enhancements, and wellbeing and health.
• The winning team will receive up to €50,000 to test their concept with Elia Group and will benefit from increased visibility for their company.

BRUSSELS - BERLIN | Elia Group is proud to announce the 2025 edition of its annual Open Innovation Challenge (OIC) - a competition designed to stimulate fresh thinking and foster innovation in areas that are essential to our mission. This year, we are placing people at the heart of our transformation journey. Under the slogan ‘People First’, the OIC 2025 invites start-ups, SMEs, and innovative teams from around the world to help us develop solutions that enhance the experience, safety, and development of our workforce as we accelerate the energy transition.

As a key player in the European energy system, Elia Group understands that delivering a sustainable and reliable electricity supply is not just about infrastructure and technology - it’s about the people behind the operations who ensure the energy supply keeps flowing around the clock. Our employees are central to everything we do. In a rapidly evolving work environment, we aim to equip them with the best tools to perform their crucial roles, while continuing to grow both professionally and personally.

This year’s challenge focuses on four priority areas in the Human Resources domain:

1) Knowledge Management

We are looking for innovative approaches to capture, share, and leverage knowledge across the organisation. Solutions should help us to, for example:

• Streamline onboarding and offboarding processes
• Provide continuous learning opportunities
• Enhance knowledge sharing through intuitive platforms
• Ensure seamless access to critical information
• Build effective mentoring networks
  
  

2) Cultural Change

Elia Group is evolving, and with that comes the need to adapt to our organisational culture. We seek ideas that will, for example:

• Support the development and measurement of cultural initiatives
• Foster active leadership participation in culture change
• Promote inclusive and sustainable workplace values
• Encourage engagement through gamification and other interactive methods
  
  

3) Security Awareness and Behaviour

Cybersecurity and insider threat awareness are becoming increasingly important. For example, we aim to:

• Improve employee resilience against phishing and social engineering
• Use gamified and behavioural learning to reinforce best practices
• Create champion programmes to spread awareness internally
• Foster a proactive culture of digital responsibility
  
  

4) Safety and Wellbeing

We are committed to supporting the physical and mental wellbeing of our teams. Innovative proposals could address, for example:

• Behavioural safety around high-voltage infrastructure
• Initiatives to embed a culture of safety and wellbeing
• Tools and solutions that support wellbeing and emotional resilience
• Holistic approaches to physical and psychological health

Elia Group welcomes applications that fall within these four domains, but we also encourage ideas beyond these categories, as long as they align with the overarching goal of putting people first.

This year’s challenge is officially being launched today, 12 June 2025, with the winning team to be announced on 4 December 2025 in Brussels.

Teams interested in taking part in this year’s challenge have six weeks to refine and submit their projects for consideration (the deadline for submissions is 24 July). Several of the submissions received will then be shortlisted by the OIC judges. These teams will receive support from Elia Group experts to help them further refine their proposals. Up to five teams will then be invited to take part in the challenge final, where they will pitch their improved solutions to the OIC judges. The winning team will be given the opportunity to undertake a proof of concept worth up to €50,000, with support from Elia Group staff (based either at Elia in Belgium or 50Hertz in Germany).