The European Commission has recently announced the winners of the European Capital of Innovation Awards (iCapital), with the main prizes going to the cities of Lisbon and Linköping.
Moreover, the runners up have been also announced as follows:
The European Capital of Innovation category
- Lisbon (Portugal) – winner
- Warsaw (Poland) – 1st runner up
- Lviv (Ukraine) – 2nd runner up
The European Rising Innovative City category
- Linköping (Sweden) – winner
- Padova (Italy) – 1st runner up
- Cork (Ireland) – 2nd runner up
The prizes were awarded by Iliana Ivanova, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, in Marseille, France during the ceremony co-hosted by the Aix-Marseille Provence Métropole, winner of iCapital 2022.
The European Capital of Innovation Awards were established in 2014 to reward those European cities that are courageous enough to open their governance practices to experimentation, boost innovation, be a role model for other cities, and 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.
Following the UK’s association to Horizon Europe from the 2024 Work Programme and onwards, UK cities will again be eligible to apply for this and other annual prizes/awards funded by Horizon Europe.