ECF is delighted to announce that the ECF Awards will take place for the second time this May at Velo-city 2023 Leipzig, brought to you by our sponsors by Jobrad, Eco-Counter and Geveko Marknigs. After the wonderful success of last year’s inaugural awards in Ljubljana, we will once again honour organisations and municipalities from across Europe for their successes in four categories, based on best practices and commitments to boosting cycling. The awards will take place on the third day of the Velo-city conference, Thursday 11 May.

Elke Van den Brandt, Brussels Minister of Mobility, receiving the 2022 Road Safety Award alongside ECF President Henk Swarttouw and Anders Wellving of Geveko 

Since the ending of most Covid-19 related restrictions around Europe, organisations and policymakers across the continent have kept their feet on the pedal to maintain the momentum that was gained in cycling promotion during the pandemic. Cycling infrastructure is being built, funding increased, policies developed and, most importantly, attitudes are changing. In the face of enormous challenges around climate change, health and urban planning, cycling is providing many of the solutions we need.

Along with our sponsors, ECF is excited to celebrate some of the most impressive success stories in this seismic shift we are witnessing across Europe. The categories will be as follow:

• Cycle-Friendly Employer Award, sponsored by JobRad.
• Cycling Improvement Award, sponsored by Eco-Counter.
• Road Safety Award, sponsored by Geveko Markings.
• Cycling Infrastructure Award.

The aim of the ECF Awards is that, by highlighting success stories in cycling promotion, we can inspire people to keep the gears of progress in motion and to continue advocating for the use of the bike as a cheap, healthy and green mode of transport. We take great joy in bringing cycling enthusiasts together to share their vision of a future where our shared spaces are liveable, accessible and enjoyable. The winner in each category will be selected by ECF’s jury of cycling experts. Take a look at each of the award categories below!

Cycle-Friendly Employer Award – sponsored by JobRad

The Cycle-Friendly Employer (CFE) Certification Framework was established in 2018 and set a European standard for bicycle-friendliness in the workplace. Since then, is has expanded greatly and is now being implemented in 16 countries, with over 400 employers having already received the certification. The intention of this project is to acknowledge the effort and successes of employers that encourage and facilitate their employees to cycle to work.

This year’s Cycle-Friendly Employer Award is proudly sponsored by JobRad, one of Europe’s leading organisations for getting more people on bikes by enabling employees in Germany to have a company bicycle. The criteria for the award will include the implementation of good cycling infrastructure at the workplace, for example, bicycle parking and changing rooms, and promotional campaigns that encourage and incentivise employees to get active on their daily commute.

Cycling Improvement Award – sponsored by Eco-Counter

It is easy to imagine that cities like Amsterdam or Copenhagen have always been a cyclist’s paradise. However, it is not so long ago that the streets of Amsterdam were much more car-centric and hostile to the presence of bicycles. It takes popular and political will as well as intentional efforts to create bicycle-friendly spaces, and that is what we intend to reward with the Cycling Improvement Award.

Cities, towns and rural areas across Europe are facing challenges in generating not only the physical but also the cultural infrastructure needed to make cycling the main mode of transport for their citizens. Nevertheless, there are more and more examples of how these challenges are being overcome through innovative and creative solutions, which we aim to showcase through this award.

This year’s Cycling Improvement Award is sponsored by Eco-Counter, experts in establishing where cycling levels are growing the fastest. Eco-Counter is a human-sized company that specialises in pedestrian and bicycle counting solutions, offering a complete range of products from sensors to data analysis software. Our jury panel will identify the top place in Europe for successfully increasing its number of cyclists!

Road Safety Award – sponsored by Geveko Markings

Between 2010 and 2020, cyclists were the only type of road user that did not experience a decline in fatalities. This has to change. Besides the tragedy of such fatalities themselves, a lack of safe cycling infrastructure discourages people from getting on their bikes, thus preventing them from the pleasure and the health and environmental benefits that cycling brings.

At ECF, we have a vision of a world where all citizens have safe access to cycling, secure in the knowledge that measures are being taken to protect them. We believe that with measures such as separated lanes, reduced speed limits and low-traffic neighbourhoods, the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured in road collisions can be cut by at least 50% by 2030. With this award, we want to recognise the most creative, innovative and effective measures that have been taken to promote cycling by improving safety in Europe.

This year’s Road Safety Award is proudly sponsored by Geveko Markings. The criteria for the award include reductions in cycling accidents and fatalities and innovative initiatives to encourage safer behaviour on the road and to protect cyclists.

Cycling Infrastructure Award

The massive increase in cycling infrastructure which came with the COVID-19 pandemic must be sustained in order to keep attracting cyclists onto the streets and roads of Europe. The recently passed European Parliament resolution calling for a doubling of kilometres cycled in Europe by 2030 encourages regional and local authorities to maintain the cycling infrastructure put in place in response to the pandemic and recognises the need for more safe and separated cycling infrastructure. In light of this, ECF aims to honour the best example of cycling infrastructure that has been implemented in Europe in the past year. The criteria for the award include implementing innovative and creative solutions that encourage people to cycle by removing barriers to using the bike.

The ECF Awards will take place on Thursday 11 May during Velo-city Leipzig 2023. Interested in attending? It’s not too late to purchase your tickets, available here! We hope you can join us to celebrate some of the most important developments in cycling promotion in Europe in the past year.