Conditions of participation

spoga horse TOP INNOVATIONS

spoga horse TOP INNOVATIONS will be organized by Koelnmesse GmbH, Messeplatz 1, 50679 Köln, registered at Amtsgericht Köln (Cologne District Court), HRB 952 (referred to hereinafter as the organizer).

1. Eligible companies

Participation is open to all companies and private persons over 18 years, whose binding registration for the spoga horse TOP INNOVATIONS has been submitted by the registration deadline. Participation at the spoga horse TOP INNOVATIONS is dependent on a participation in a trade fair spoga horse 2026. The participants are allowed to submit in total up to 5 entries to the competition. On entering the competition, the participants accept these terms of participation.

2. Participation fee

The participation fee for spoga horse TOP INNOVATIONS is 270 € per product and is payable for each submitted product. The participation fee is only due if the submitted product meets the participation conditions of the organizer. In case of non-compliance with the conditions of participation or non-payment of the participation fee, the product may be subsequently excluded from the competition. The participation fee will be sent as an invoice to the submitting contact person upon registration.

3. Application deadline/deadline for submitting entries

The closing date for registration to participate in the spoga horse TOP INNOVATIONS is November 21st 2025, midnight. By this time, the registration of the competition entries and, if required, photo and/or video material must be registered.
The competition entries submitted are valid, or new product developments are considered innovations, if following criteria are applicable:

• The product may not be on the market for longer than 1 year before application.
• The product must be fully developed (no prototypes).
• The product must be different in shape, appearance, material properties, handling and/or technology from products already on the market. Pure further developments of existing products already available on the market are not permitted.
• The product does not violate the laws for the protection of intellectual property or industrial property rights in the broadest sense.
• The product must comply with the legal regulations applicable in Europe and, if certification or CE marking of the product has been obtained, the submitted product must fully comply with the certified product or the condition underlying the CE marking at the time of the event.
• The organizers reserve the right to accept only competition entries that meet the participation criteria and whose participation documents are complete.
• The organizers reserve the right to check the final approval of the submitted product.

4. Special Prize of the jury:

The organizers and the jury reserve the right to award a special prize for particularly outstanding products.

5. Presentation, media and press work

By registering for the spoga horse TOP INNOVATIONS, the registered person declares that it consents to the publication of the submitted image material and details on the competition entries in accordance with the submitted descriptions by the press and media partners of the organizer from 02nd of February 2026 onwards. The notifying person assures to be author of the images and products supplied to the organizer and their press and media partners or to own the copyrights of the images and products mentioned above. The organizer and their press-and media partners are protected from third parties- rights resulting from the images. Up to 30 nominated products as well as the 5 winning products will be exhibited on-site at the BOULEVARD OF INNOVATIONS and must be provided for the event, during construction of spoga horse 2025 free of charge for the show organizer.
The products are guarded by Koelnmesse, but participants are advised to take out theft insurance for their products.
The provision of suitable presentation materials, such as life-size horse dummies, cutting dummies etc. is desired. Note: Advertising displays and banners as well as flyers and brochures cannot be admitted due to the limited space.

6. Selection of the competition entries

The competition entries are judged by an independent expert jury (made up of members from the retail, professional, content creator and breeding sectors). If one of the jury members has a currently valid cooperation agreement with an applicant, they may not evaluate the product. The product will then be given an average score. All products submitted in due time will be submitted to the jury for evaluation. Based on 8 different criteria, the jury will assign 0-10 points to your product. The criteria innovation strategy & solution approach as well as overall concept receive double points. You will receive a written notification of the overall result of your product.
The evaluation criteria:

1. Overall impression and presentation through a mini pitch to the product (also via video link possible)
2. Innovation strategy & solution approach
3. Sustainability
4. Differentiation from competitive products
5. Quality & functionality
6. Design
7. Overall concept

Up to 30 products with the highest total score receive the "spoga horse - PROOF OF INNOVATION 2026" (certificate and a seal/label: rights of use and advertising material templates) and the 5 highest rated products win the title "spoga horse TOP INNOVATION 2026" (certificate and a seal/label: rights of use and advertising material templates, trophy and publication at www.spogahorse.de).
These products may be advertised using the respective advertising materials provided. It is not permitted to make changes to the advertising material templates unless this is expressly provided for. Furthermore, it is not permitted to advertise products other than those mentioned above with these advertising material templates. In case of a tie in points a double placement is possible. The announcement of the results for spoga horse TOP INNOVATIONS is on 7th of February 2026.
The design of the competition entries for the presentation of the results will be carried out exclusively by the organization team of spoga horse TOP INNOVATIONS. The organizer is not liable for the presentation capability and technical functionality of the competition entries.