Alicante Port Innova and Port Authority Launch First Port Innovation Awards

Alicante – November 3, 2026 – The Alicante Port Authority, together with Alicante Port Innova, is promoting the first edition of the Alicante Port Innovation Awards, an initiative, framed within the events of the 125th anniversary of the Alicante Port Works Board, aimed at recognizing, promoting, and giving visibility to innovative projects and solutions capable of contributing to the transformation, modernization, and development of the maritime-port ecosystem.

The awards are born with the vocation of becoming a meeting point for companies, entrepreneurs, universities, research centers, institutions, and entities that are committed to innovation as a tool for competitiveness and growth.

One of the main characteristics of the call is precisely its open nature: projects do not necessarily have to have been developed in a port or in the maritime-port sector, as long as they demonstrate their potential for application, adaptation, or transfer to this field.

The call establishes five categories: Innovation, Competitiveness, Sustainability, Social Impact, and Connections. These aim to recognize everything from new solutions, services, and business models to initiatives aimed at improving processes and operations, advancing in the ecological transition, generating benefits for people and the territory, or strengthening the relationship of the port ecosystem with productive sectors and national and international markets.

Companies, startups, self-employed professionals, universities, research groups and centers, technology centers, associations, foundations, public administrations, and other entities may submit their candidacies. Projects must have been developed during the 2024-2026 period and have a sufficient degree of maturity to be able to evaluate their viability and impact.

The call also comes at a particularly positive time for the activity of the Port of Alicante. Between January and September 2026, 2.5 million tons of goods have been moved, 419,635 tons more than during the same period of the previous year, which represents a growth of 20.08%.

The behavior of general cargo, one of the traffics of greatest strategic value for the port, stands out especially, reaching 1,476,351 tons, with an extraordinary increase of 43.65%. Within it, containerized cargo amounts to 1,358,490 tons, 46.19% more than between January and September of the last year. The growth is also reflected in the number of containers: until September, the Port of Alicante accumulates 190,176 TEU, compared to 142,536 in the same period of 2025, that is, 47,640 additional TEU and an increase of 33.42%.

This dynamism also extends to the international projection of the port. Foreign traffic reaches 1,265,801 tons, 17.13% more, while exports advance 34.37%, to 717,963 tons. The data thus consolidate an evolution characterized by a greater weight of containerized traffic and a growing connection of the productive fabric with foreign markets.

In this context, the 1st Innovation Awards aim to contribute to reinforcing this transformation process and generate a space in which companies, knowledge, technology, and the port community can identify new solutions and opportunities applicable to logistics and maritime-port activity.

The awards are structured into five main categories: Innovation, which will recognize new ideas, products, services, or business models; Competitiveness, those solutions capable of improving processes, operations, infrastructures, productivity, security, or efficiency; and Sustainability, projects linked to the ecological transition, the sustainable use of resources, climate adaptation, and the blue economy.

For its part, Social Impact will distinguish initiatives that generate benefits for people, communities, and the territory, while Connections will be aimed at projects that strengthen relationships between the maritime-port ecosystem, productive sectors, and national and international markets.

The deadline for submitting applications is December 1, 2026, and will be done through an online form. To facilitate participation, it will not be necessary to prepare a specific report or present audiovisual material, although candidate entities may optionally incorporate complementary documentation that helps to prove the results and characteristics of their project.

Applications will undergo a two-phase evaluation. Initially, they will be analyzed by a commission made up of representatives of Alicante Port Innova and the Alicante Port Authority. Subsequently, the selected proposals will be evaluated by a jury made up of professionals of recognized prestige and trajectory.

Winners will be announced during the awards ceremony for the 1st Alicante Port Innovation Awards, which will take place on December 15, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. (#SaveTheDate). The awards will be honorary and will not have an economic endowment.

The rules, information on the different categories, and registration forms are available on the official website of the 1st Alicante Port Innovation Awards: https://premiosinnovacionpuertoalicante.com/

For any query related to the call, interested entities can contact Alicante Port Innova through the email gestion@alicanteportinnova.com.