The European Capital of Innovation Awards

2026 edition

On 21 March 2025, the European Commission has launched the new edition of the European Capital of Innovation Awards (iCapital), in Braga (Portugal), the current European Rising Innovative City's winner.

Cities have time to apply until 18 June. For further information on how to apply, please check below, under "funding opportunities".

About

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.  

An increasing number of cities are acting as test beds for innovation and run people-driven initiatives to find solutions to societal challenges, such as climate change, digitalisation, sustainable growth, or social cohesion. Cities innovate for a better future, reinforcing democracy and citizens’ rights. 

The competition rewards those European cities that are courageous enough to open their governance practices to experimentation 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. Moreover, all winners and runners up will be invited to join the iCapital alumni network. This is a prestigious club where they all meet to share their knowledge, discuss common challenges, and work together to find solutions.  

Past winners are Barcelona (2014), Amsterdam (2016), Paris (2017), Athens (2018), Nantes (2019), Leuven (2020), Dortmund (2021), and Aix-Marseille Provence Metropole (2022), Lisbon (2023), and Turin (2024-25) as European Capitals of Innovation.  

Past winners in the Rising Innovative city category are Vantaa (2021), Haarlem (2022), Linkoping (2023), and Braga (2024-25).  

Categories

In 2026, the European Capital of Innovation Awards features two categories:

• The European Capital of Innovation category for cities with a population of minimum 250 000 inhabitants and rewards the winner with EUR 1 000 000 and two runners-up with EUR 100 000 each. 
• The European Rising Innovative City category that targets towns and cities with a population of 50 000 and up to 249 999 inhabitants and rewards the winner with EUR 500 000 and two runners-up with EUR 50 000 each. 

Funding opportunities

The deadline for submission is 18 June 2025, 17:00 CET. 

The full text of the iCapital Awards' call is available in the EIC Work Programme 2025.

Who should apply

Cities can apply to only one of the two categories as long as it:

• has at least 50 000 inhabitants (please see further details and exceptions in the Rules of contest) 
• is located in an EU Member State or an Associated Country to Horizon Europe

Eligibility criteria

1. The candidate cities must be located in one of the Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries.  
2. For the category of European Capital of Innovation, the candidate city must have a minimum population of 250 000 inhabitants. In countries where there are no such cities, the city coming closest to 250 000 inhabitants is eligible to apply for the European Capital of Innovation category, provided that it has a minimum population of 50 000 inhabitants and that the city did not apply for the European Rising Innovative City category.  
3. The candidate cities for the European Rising Innovative City category must have a population of 50 000 and up to 249 999 inhabitants.  
4. Winners of former European Capital of Innovation Awards editions, as well as runners-up of both 2023 edition categories are not eligible. This does not apply to previous finalist cities.  
5. Applicants that have already received an EU or Euratom prize cannot receive a second prize for the same activities.  

Award criteria

1. Experimenting – innovative concepts, processes, tools, and governance models proving the city's commitment to act as a test-bed for innovative practices, while ensuring the mainstreaming of these practices into the ordinary urban development process. 

2. Escalating – promoting the acceleration of the different actors of the local innovation ecosystem, supporting growth of highly innovative start-ups and SMEs, establishing innovation friendly legal framework, creating an environment that stimulates growth and attracts private and public investments, resources, diversity and talents; and driving innovation demand through efficient innovation public procurement. 

3. Ecosystem building – unlocking cities’ potential as local innovation ecosystem facilitators by fostering synergies among different innovation ecosystem players, from public, industry, startups, civil society, citizens to academia, to contribute to the development of an innovation ecosystem within the city.  

4. Expanding – acting as a role model for other cities by supporting the dissemination and replication of tested solutions that boost the local innovation ecosystem; by promoting mutual learning, knowledge transfer and capacity building; and by enhancing cooperation and synergies between cities that are front-runners in driving the local innovation ecosystem, and those that are still exploring and testing their role as innovation enablers.   

5. City innovative vision – applicants should demonstrate their long-term strategic vision/plan, highlighting the innovative initiatives that have positively contributed to the transformation of the city and which will further support the development of a sustainable and resilient innovation ecosystem ensuring the green and digital transitions. 

6. Citizens’ rights – the use of innovation to strengthen democracy, to protect citizens' rights, to foster social cohesion, and ensure integration with a special view on minorities, gender, disability, or race. 

How to apply

Please consult the following document before submitting your application through the links above.

• Rules of contest 

Guidelines for applicants

On 24 April 2025, the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) is organising an informative webinar to learn more about the European Capital of Innovation Awards (iCapital). 

Register for the informative webinar

Do you need some inspiration for applying? 

Find out more about Lisbon and Linköping’s winning application. 

iCapital Alumni Network

The EIC Prizes Alumni network is one of the working groups of the European Innovation Council Forum. It is a dedicated space and network for the winners and finalists of the European Capital of Innovation Awards to interact, cooperate, exchange knowledge, and share policy insights to boost innovation across the European Union.

This series of factsheets has been created by the member cities of the  iCapital Alumni network, with the purpose of sharing their knowledge. They include the cities’ challenges, their recommendations and best practices.

Previous editions

Check the full details of the previous editions:

• iCapital 2024-25
• iCapital 2023
• iCapital 2022
• iCapital 2021
• iCapital 2014-2020

Events