The European Capital of Innovation Awards (iCapital), supported by the European Innovation Council (EIC) under Horizon Europe, recognise those European cities that open their governance practices to experimentation and aim at being role models for other cities, by pushing the boundaries of technology for the benefit of their citizens.

The contest will award a total of six prizes for two categories: the European Capital of Innovation and the Rising Innovative City.

The city winning the 2023 European Capital of Innovation title will receive €1 million. Moreover, the first two runners-up of this category will be rewarded with €100 000 each. In the Rising Innovative City category, the winner will be rewarded with €500 000 accompanied by two runners-up that will receive €50 000 each.

Moreover, all winners and runners up will be invited to join the EIC Prizes Alumni network, a prestigious group of previous iCapital winners, to exchange knowledge, best practices, and look for solutions to common challenges.

The competition is open to cities with a minimum of 50 000 inhabitants from EU Member States and countries associated to Horizon Europe.

Cities are the natural playground for innovation, giving space to reflect, propose, test new ideas and products, and thus improve the quality of their inhabitants’ lives. They can be catalysts of flourishing innovation ecosystems not only within a given city but also in the surrounding regions and across Europe. 

In Europe, it is estimated that by 2050 almost 85% of Europeans will be living in cities. The capacity of cities to absorb this increasing demand of services and consumption of resources will be key to ensure their sustainability and resilience. 

The European Capital of Innovation Awards (iCapital) was established in 2014 to reward those European cities that are courageous enough to open their governance practices to experimentation, to boost innovation, to be a role model for other cities, and to push the boundaries of technology for the benefit of their citizens. 

In addition to the monetary reward, the prize brings high visibility in the form of renewed public interest and increased media coverage. 

Past winners include Barcelona (2014), Amsterdam (2016), Paris (2017), Athens (2018), Nantes (2019), Leuven (2020), Dortmund (2021), Vantaa (2021), Aix-Marseille Provence Metropole (2022) and Haarlem (2022).

Deadline: 29 June 2023, 17:00 CET.

Other information and apply here.