With ocean health and entrepreneurship at its heart, the Euronext Blue Challenge aims to build a better world through the innovative and curious minds of young people. In partnership with JA Europe, the Blue Challenge was created as an educational programme designed to equip students with vital tools in business strategy and entrepreneurship, as well as to positively impact the planet through sustainably focused targets linked to the Blue Economy.

The Euronext Blue Challenge is a Europe-wide competition amongst school students aged between 16 to 18, to compete for the Euronext Blue Innovation Award. Around 250 students are involved each year, and the teams are assigned a team of mentors from the Euronext staff body to guide them through their idea. Each team forms a mini company, with creating a business proposal, proposed from initial ideas, all the way to market. Teams are judged on the following criteria:

• Problem solving
• Innovation
• Business model
• Demo or prototype
• Financial literacy
• Climate change

2024 Final

The fourth consecutive year of the Euronext Blue Challenge competition saw a plethora of creative, effective, and genuinely marketable projects, many of which had already began making profit before they were presented to the Blue Challenge Jury Boards. In each of the nine countries, a national competition was held to determine which team would represent their country in the European final, which was held on 15 May 2024. The following teams from each country made it through to the final:

Italy - OCEAN RED JA

OCEAN RED JA aims to reduce the carbon dioxide levels in the ocean through the cultivation and distribution of the red seaweed Gelidium. The company also produces raw materials useful in other sustainable economic markets as biofuel and bioplastics.

Belgium – Game of Tides

Game of Tides has created a 46-card strategy game. The goal is to assemble a whole family of marine animals. The product aims to bring awareness to the impact of overfishing on the oceans. The team has also pledged to raise awareness through the social media channels associated with the card game.

France – SOVELO

SOVELO has created nets that attach onto the back of pedalos. These nets collect plastic waste and other debris floating in the water, making it easy to remove it from the environment while enjoying fun with family or friends. The pedalos are easy to manoeuvre and could be used to clean up areas most affected by pollution.

Norway – Pungdom UB

Pungdom UB intends to filter Europe’s coastal waters using sea squirts. Sea squirts have the unique ability to absorb nitrogen and release oxygen. Pungdom UB’s primary focus is on the Oslo Fjord, which has notably high nitrogen levels, causing a plethora of problems for the habitat.

UK – Hestia

Hestia has chosen to fill a gap in the market for ocean friendly, handmade, and affordable bracelets. These bracelets are made from natural stones, minimising environmental damage as they are plastic-free. To help the ocean, they will be donating 10% of profits to a local charity, Sussex Under Water.

Denmark - 99Robotics

99Robotics has created a robot to help farmers reduce climate emissions, thus meeting regulations that may come into effect in the near future. The robot will plant winter cover crops within maize fields, therefore increasing the amount of CO₂ absorption, without impacting the maize crop growth or harvest. This will remove one tonne of CO₂ emissions per hectare and halve the nitrates leaching into coastal waters.

Portugal – OilAway

OilAway has created an effective solution to remove oil from the ocean. Using human and animal hair, hair nets have been created that can absorb five times their weight in oil. They can be installed as nets on both sides of a boat, sweeping up oil as the boat moves through it.

The Netherlands – Fresh & Soapy

Fresh & Soapy has created a shampoo bar that is organic, plastic-free, handmade, and animal-testing-free in order to tackle the impacts of plastic manufacturing and waste.

Ireland – Sea you later

Sea You Later chose to tackle the impact of the cosmetics industry on the planet. The team created a fake-tan remover made entirely of natural ingredients including seaweed and sand, which are all beneficial to the skin.

The Winners of the Blue Challenge 2024

After much deliberation from the Jury, the Euronext Blue Innovation Award 2024 was awarded to Pungdom UB from Norway, for the team’s visionary project on constructing filters for Europe’s coastal waters using sea squirts and other sea restoration habitats.

Jury Member Marianne Alders, Head of Press for Euronext Amsterdam and Brussels, stated, “We believe this team has the potential to take off the ground, as they have a very good idea of what a realistic business model should look like. They also understand the vital importance of local involvement and the communicative aspect towards stakeholders, needed to make the business truly sustainable.

The Pungdom UB team members were delighted by their win, “We want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to participate in this competition. It was really inspiring to see all of the other mini companies, we have loved seeing so much engagement in finding a solution for ocean damage, a problem that is so high.”

The Euronext Blue Challenge inspires positive change for students, mentors and our planet. Read the Euronext Blue Challenge webpage to watch Pungdom UB’s promotional video, or get involved for the 2024/25 cohort.

Creating the Blue Challenge

On 2 June 2020, Euronext became the first exchange to sign the nine Ocean Principles with the ambition to take a leading role in advancing the Blue Economy. First launched in 2021, the Euronext Blue Challenge was created by Euronext in collaboration with JA Europe, to contribute towards the advancement of the Blue Economy.

Following the launch of the Blue Challenge, Salvatore Nigro, CEO JA Europe stated: “Our new collaboration with Euronext allows young people in Europe to tackle one of the biggest challenges of our times through an entrepreneurial approach.” He added that “the combination of entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills for the benefit of the Blue Economy is a win-win for the future generations, our planet and our economies.”

Social and environmental mission

The Euronext Blue Challenge encourages students to actively engage with current global issues while learning about real-world business strategy. Euronext understands that the younger generation are agents of change, and will soon become responsible for both the economic and environmental world. The creation and execution of each project are designed to inspire real change that can extend far beyond this competition. Through learning how to create an investable business plan, students will not only come up with potential products that can help improve our environment, but they will also gain skills in business strategy, enabling them to create products that could go to market.

Euronext’s commitment to a sustainable future is demonstrated through its Empowering Sustainable Growth (ESG) strategy and its SBTi-validated climate commitments. As an Official Supporter of the United Nations’ Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative since 2015, Euronext is firmly committed to the UN’s “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, being one of the Sustainable Development Goals embraced in its ESG roadmap: “Goal 14: Life Below Water”.

Find out more about Euronext’s ESG Strategy ->

Nord Pool, Europe’s leading power market, is celebrating a pivotal moment in its journey with the introduction of a new logo and visual identity, reflecting its integration into the Euronext family.

The rebranding will help support the Nord Pool brand with increased visibility in Europe and beyond, as it continues to pioneer advancements in the energy market. Importantly, Nord Pool’s core commitment to customer care remains steadfast, ensuring that Nord Pool continues to provide its valued members with the simple, efficient and secure power trading services members have come to trust.

Since its establishment in 1993, Nord Pool has maintained its position at the forefront of power trading, forming the world’s first international power market in 1996. Today more than 400 companies from 20 countries trade on Nord Pool’s markets. Nord Pool offers customers day-ahead and intraday trading, clearing and settlement, and additional services including knowledge-sharing and a wide-range of power sector data, regardless of customers’ size or location.

For over three decades Nord Pool has shaped the landscape of coupled power trading across Europe. The new logo and visual identity reflect the company’s unwavering dedication to flexibility, transparency, innovation and sustainability within the energy sector. With its new branding, Nord Pool will leverage on Euronext’s brand exposure to deliver its products and services more extensively, and reinforce its positioning as Europe’s leading power exchange. 

Tom Darell, CEO of Nord Pool, said:

We are excited to embark on this new journey with Euronext. The new branding supports our mission of being a leading pan-European energy exchange, delivering simple, efficient and secure energy trading. Together with Euronext we can further accelerate innovation and sustainable growth, and we will continue to shape the future of energy trading in Europe and benefit stakeholders across the globe. 

The unveiling of the new logo and visual identity marks a significant step for Nord Pool. With its fresh brand identity, and together with Euronext, Nord Pool will continue to lead the way in shaping the future of energy trading.

With the 2020 Recovery Decree to relaunch the Italian economy, a new path opened for Italian banks, granting them the possibility to issue Commercial Papers and therefore short-term liquidity instruments.

Previously a tool reserved for businesses, but in recent months, with the waning of the ultra-expansive monetary policy of the ECB and the liquidity injected into the market by the central bank, this new opportunity has attracted more and more credit institutions

We asked Alessandro Stangalini, Head of Treasury at the Credem Group, to contextualises the recent decision of the bank to issue around 200 million euros of Italian Commercial Papers within the framework of a dedicated one-billion-euro issuance program launched September 2023.

Unlocking new opportunities for Credem 

"In the current context of normalisation of monetary policy, we have seized the advantages of this renewed instrument provided by recent legislation for the Italian market. The decision aligns with the group's desire to diversify funding strategies and integrates this new short-term liquidity channel with all other institute's sourcing instruments. It represents an important and supplementary alternative to interbank deposits, thus allowing for a more comprehensive treasury management."

"Having an additional short-term liquidity channel, up to 12 months, will be a significant resource in this context of reduced liquidity coming from the ECB. Several factors favored the operation, such as the qualification of our financial bills under the STEP LABEL, a European standard that promotes market homogeneity across the continent and represents a guarantee for national and international investors. We were pleased to see interest in this issuance from common investors in this market, namely fund managers and money fund managers, but we also discovered some interest from large corporate investors. Treasury banks have also shown interest in this instrument. The support of our dealers and Euronext was fundamental. They connected us with international investors, expanding our network of potential market counterparts for our issuances. Besides France, traditionally strong in this type of issuance, we were pleased to find interest in Spain and Portugal. We also benefited from the elimination of the sponsor figure, which lightened the burdens of these issuances, aimed at qualified investors. We gradually verified the possibility of using this funding channel with greater agility, integrating the initial predominantly 3-month maturities with others also at 7 and 8 months. We will definitely integrate this new opportunity with the range of options the bank has available for its financing. With these short-term instruments, we can optimize treasury management with a broader and more granular diversification, also in terms of maturities."

Strategies for Expanding the Use of Financial Bills in the Italian Market

"This instrument, widely used abroad, is experiencing a new life in Italy today. The rules and the context have changed, and now financial bills and short-term liquidity instruments are in a position to develop in parallel with the normalization of monetary policy. It's an opportunity, but communication is probably very important at this stage: informing the financial community about this path that can facilitate the transition to the new phase of financial markets. Industry associations and actors in the monetary, banking, and financial markets that could benefit from this new possibility should be involved."

"We will calibrate this instrument to our needs; we already have an outstanding of around 200 million euros, but we don't need to fully utilize the one-billion-euro allocation of the program.

It will be important to integrate this financing channel with all our other funding and treasury strategies to derive maximum benefit.

It's a somewhat different approach from other instruments. In any case, we will nurture the network we have already begun to build and contacts with even foreign investors, such as those from Spain, who have shown interest in this operation. We will maintain contacts with dealers and partnerships. In the second half, we already have plans for meetings with market operators, and we intend to structure this innovative instrument that we have just applied. The use of the opportunity of financial bills issuance, moreover, is another confirmation of Credem's attentive and professional industrial management, which has always kept its focus on innovation."

With a special place in the European financial infrastructure, Euronext has a responsibility to foster an ecosystem that promotes financial inclusion. Euronext concentrates its expertise predominantly on:

1. Supporting micro, small and medium sized businesses access capital
2. Facilitating retail investors access equity markets
3. Promoting financial literacy

Helping micro, small and medium sized businesses access capital

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of Europe's economy. They represent 99% of all businesses in the EU. They employ around 100 million people, account for more than half of Europe’s GDP, and play a key role in adding value in every sector of the economy. However, access to finance is one of the most pressing issues for many of these enterprises. Through its specially-designed markets for smaller companies, Euronext Growth and Euronext Access, Euronext aims to bridge this financing gap.

Euronext Growth:

Euronext Growth is suited to small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) that want to raise funds to finance their growth. Listing requirements are simplified and reporting requirements are lighter than for the regulated market.

Euronext Access:

The first step for start-ups and SMEs. Euronext Access markets are designed especially for start-ups and SMEs that wish to join a stock exchange to finance their growth and gain the reputational advantages of listing, but do not meet the criteria for admission to Euronext’s regulated markets or Euronext Growth.

Overall, Euronext has provided access to capital to more than 780 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

Find out more about the Euronext Growth and Access Markets.

ELITE:

ELITE is the ecosystem for European micro, small and medium-sized enterprises that supports private companies in financing their growth. The mission of ELITE is to support private companies in sustainable long-term growth by accelerating their access to capital, expertise and networking opportunities.

ELITE combines a calendar of workshops and coaching sessions with a range of services and solutions for businesses, provided by a qualified network of partners and advisors. It supports entrepreneurs and executives in enhancing their skills, strengthening their strategic plans, and maximising business opportunities.

With over 2,000 companies and 200 approved partners since its inception, the companies within the network have completed more than 1,120 corporate finance operations, with a total value of approximately €13 billion.

Facilitating retail investors’ access to equity markets

Euronext’s Best of Book (BoB) service empowers individual investors by facilitating their access to the equity markets and providing the best prices available in Europe for their equity orders.

Our commitment to transparency and fairness ensures that retail investors can engage in trading activities with confidence. Unlike other platforms, Euronext offers retail investors a real price, since orders sent via BoB trade within the Euronext Central Order Book, where the liquidity is the deepest in Europe.

The BoB service has consistently demonstrated exceptional performance in successfully delivering best execution, while providing substantial cost savings to retail investors. On average in 2023, BoB delivered best execution in 98.82% of trades, and helped retail investors save €98.6 million. The BoB platform also offered a price that was on average €3.66 better per trade than the price available on the second-best trading platform in Europe. This is called price improvement, where the price achieved is better than the prices quoted by other venues at the exact time the order was placed.

Read more about Euronext Best of Book (BoB).

Promoting financial literacy

Euronext plays a role in promoting financial education and literacy to under-served groups. We believe that by enhancing financial literacy, we empower individuals and companies to make informed decisions, navigate the financial markets, and achieve their financial goals.

IPO ready, Euronext’s pre-IPO programme

IPO ready is a comprehensive pre-IPO programme designed specifically for businesses that want to take the next step towards going public. The six-month pre-IPO educational programme provides executives with the tools and insights they need to achieve the IPO successfully.

IPOready is available in Europe for companies from any sector, and is supported by over 90 partners and sponsors from the financial industry. More than 920 companies have already chosen IPOready for their IPO preparations. The vast majority of these are SMEs.

Euronext's ESG Reporting and Pre-IPO Guides

Euronext’s ESG Reporting Guide has been designed to help all companies, including micro and small companies, which often have fewer resources, to engage in climate change mitigation policies with the support of their investors. More broadly, the Guide covers the key aspects to consider when reporting on ESG to make the most of the associated opportunities, in line with the aim to limit the increase in global temperatures to 1.5°C.

Euronext has also published an ESG pre-IPO guide, a set of recommendations on best practices for ESG during the IPO process. Developed in collaboration with the Paris Institute for Sustainable Finance (Institut de la Finance Durable), the guide provides an overview of investor expectations on corporates’ ESG maturity during the IPO process.

Euronext Foundation

The Euronext Foundation aims to foster Euronext's support of local sustainable communities and projects across Europe in the field of financial literacy. It acts as an umbrella encompassing Euronext’s philanthropic and educational support via dedicated funding and volunteering initiatives. These aim to empower young people, promote sustainability, and strengthen our connections with local communities. Here below an outline of some of the intiatives that happened in 2023: