Hamburg Among the Finalist Cities of the European Capital of Innovation Award

Finalist cities for 2018

The finalist cities of this year’s European Capital of Innovation Award are Aarhus, Antwerp, Athens, Bristol, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Leuven, Lisbon, Madrid, Toulouse, Umeå, Vienna.

Finalists will present their innovation strategies at the ‘iCapital Stories’ session at this year’s European week of regions and cities in Brussels on 10 October.

The winner – the European Capital of Innovation 2018 – will be announced at the Web Summit in Lisbon on 6 November by Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation.

What is the European Capital of Innovation (iCapital) Award?

This is an annual cash prize awarded to the European city that is best able to demonstrate its ability to harness innovation to improve the lives of its citizens.

In particular cities that

-contribute to open and dynamic innovation ecosystems

-involve citizens in governance and decision-making

-use innovation to improve the resiliency and sustainability of their cities

Why is there a prize?

This prize enables European cities to showcase their contribution to developing local innovation ecosystems for the benefit of businesses and the well-being of their citizens.

Prize value

€1 million to the city named European Innovation Capital of the year.

€100,000 to each of the five runner-up cities.

The award also recognises a number of finalist cities specially acknowledged for their efforts in promoting innovation.

Who can apply?

A city can apply as long as it

-has at least 100,000 inhabitants

-is in an EU country or a country associated to Horizon 2020, the EU's research and innovation programme

Award criteria

Cities are judged on how they implement innovative solutions to societal challenges. These solutions can be completed or ongoing, but must have been implemented in the year prior to the opening of

the contest or the contest year itself.

Cities will have to show how they created the conditions for innovation by

-experimenting innovative concepts, processes, tools, and governance models as a test-bed for innovation

-engaging citizens in the innovation process and ensuring the uptake of their ideas

-expanding the city's attractiveness to become a role model for other cities

-empowering citizens by bringing concrete and measurable added value through the implementation of innovative practices

Applications are judged by a panel of independent experts from across Europe.

Timeline

22 February 2018

Contest opens.

21 June 2018

Deadline for applications.

September 2018

Finalists meet with jury of evaluators.

November 2018

Winner and runners-up announced.

Past competitions

2017 European Capital of Innovation (iCapital) Award

Finalist Cities: Aarhus, Berlin, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Nice, Tampere, Toulouse

Runners-up: Tallinn, Tel Aviv

European Capital of Innovation Award champion: Paris

2016 European Capital of Innovation (iCapital) Award

Finalist cities: Berlin, Eindhoven, Glasgow, Milan, Oxford, Paris, Turin and Vienna

Runners-up: Turin, Paris

European Capital of Innovation Award champion: Amsterdam

Article source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/funding/funding-opportunities/prizes/icapital_en