The prize is not huge (5,000 Euros), but the purposes and winners are interesting. According to this account:
The city of Aachen and the district (Kreis) of Aachen have conferred the Aachen Innovation Prize jointly since the year 2000. From 1992 until 1999 it was granted by the city of Aachen alone under the name of the “City of Aachen Prize for Innovation and Technology”.
The Aachen Innovation Prize is awarded for innovative developments in technology, trade, service industries and commerce, which are of particular interest for the further development of the city and district (Kreis) of Aachen as a location for trade and industry. It is an award for exceptional industrial and scientific achievements, whereby the innovative aspect can be demonstrated in the development of new technologies as well as in a company’s measures to improve the protection of the environment and the distribution of energy, or in new ideas for the creation and safeguarding of employment, in new solutions for the improvement of the infrastructure within a firm or in the public domain, as well as in research and development in connection with problems of development of the city and district of Aachen.