Academy
The Charlemagne Prize Academy
supports innovative and creative research ideas
Charlemagne Prize
The Charlemagne Prize Academy has been supporting innovative research projects on European topics of the future since 2019. Each year, 3-5 fellows from science, politics or business receive a €25,000 grant to work on relevant research questions.
- One-year fellowship program with scientific support
- Exchange with European partner organizations & mentors
- Annual summit in Aachen for dialog with decision-makers
- Application phase in summer, start in November
- The Academy connects young talents with leading players to develop innovative ideas for the future of Europe.
Promoting Ideas
The Charlemagne Prize Academy, established by the Charlemagne Prize Foundation in 2019, aims to support innovative and creative research ideas, characterised by addressing future challenges and new approaches in a European context.
The Academy's idea consists of two pillars: A one-year Fellowship program comprising financial and scientific support for outstanding talents planning to research topics of European relevance, and a prospective Summit in autumn aiming to connect new findings with practical activities.
The Charlemagne Prize Fellowship distinguishes itself from other programmes by providing young and creative minds with the unique opportunity to engage directly with global decision-makers and to integrate practical knowledge alongside scientific approaches. Our objective is to empower young European talents to access academic or professional careers by establishing a shared network, fostering exchanges with European leaders, and facilitating connections with partner institutions across academia, business, politics, and media. Moreover, we aspire to catalyse leading European institutions to address the critical concerns of the younger generation, which will undoubtedly shape our collective future.
Through this mutual benefit, we aim to cultivate an environment that embraces forward-thinking vision and creativity. This environment will anticipate potential challenges and opportunities before they become mainstream topics of debate, offering innovative approaches to counter stagnation and promote progress.
Background & History
Building upon the intention to promote outstanding work for social progress and mutual understanding, the Charlemagne Prize Academy aims to connect new ideas and thoughts about future issues on Europe with the current approaches of global decision-makers. The main goal is to consider a wide range of perspectives, to involve different generations and social backgrounds, and to establish a scientific base for popular discourse by supporting potential and creative thinking, irrespective of political agendas.
The first presentation of the Prize (to Count Coudenhove-Kalergi) left a lasting impression and inspired the Charlemagne Prize Board of Directors to take an even bolder part. The conferring of the Prize to Italian Prime Minister Alcide de Gasperi 1952 was the international breakthrough. A large number of outstanding personalities and political leaders followed the Italian laureate and have been yearly honoured in Aachen. Thus, the Prize has continuously gained international prestige.
Since 1991, the Charlemagne Prize has developed rapidly regarding the intention to create public access to European topics in course of a large cultural and political programme as part of the award ceremony. In 2008, Dr. Hans-Gert Pöttering, then-President of the European Parliament, and André Leysen, then-Chairman of the Charlemagne Prize Foundation, jointly initiated the European Charlemagne Youth Prize, awarding youth projects of all EU Member States.
Having successfully involved Europe’s decision-makers and Europe’s youth, the Charlemagne Prize, with the foundation of its Academy in 2019, aims to get involved in and inspire the academic debate on future issues and challenges for Europe.