European Capital of Innovation Awards (iCapital) 2022: Semi-finalists announced

Supported by the European Innovation Council under Horizon Europe, the prize recognises the role cities play to shape the local innovation ecosystem and promote game-changing innovation.

The 2022 semi-finalists selected by two high-level juries of independent experts are (in alphabetical order):

The European Capital of Innovation category

• Aix-Marseille (France)
• Basaksehir (Türkiye)
• Espoo (Finland)
• Madrid (Spain)
• Valencia (Spain)
• Warsaw (Poland)

The European Rising Innovative city category

• Aveiro (Portugal)
• Cork (Ireland)
• Eilat (Israel)
• Haarlem (The Netherlands)
• Mainz (Germany)
• Padua (Italy)

What happens next?

Each city will be invited to a private hearing with the jury members held remotely in October 2022. The hearings follow strict rules that allow each city to present the submitted application and answer potential jury questions related to the award criteria.

The jury members will then select three finalist cities for each category. One winner and two runners-up per category will be announced at the EIC Summit in December.

Apart from the prestigious recognition, the European Capital of Innovation category winner will receive a prize of €1 million while the two runners-up of this category will get €100,000 each.

Moreover, the winner of the European Rising Innovative City category will be awarded €500,000 with two runner-up cities receiving €50,000 each.

All finalists will be invited to join the EIC Forum working group on EIC Prizes Alumni network composed of previous finalists of these Awards.

Background

Supported by the European Innovation Council (EIC) under Horizon Europe, this is the eighth edition of the prestigious European Capital of Innovation Awards also known as iCapital.

Through iCapital, the European Union recognises cities with inclusive innovation ecosystems. The prize identifies cities that connect the general public with academia, businesses and the public sector to successfully translate results into improved wellbeing of the society, while at the same time boosting game-changing innovation.

The prize first took place in 2014. Past winners include Barcelona (2014), Amsterdam (2016), Paris (2017), Athens (2018), Nantes (2019), Leuven (2020) and Dortmund (2021) as European Capitals of Innovation. In 2021, Vantaa was awarded the first ever Rising Innovative City title through a new category introduced to reward the innovative practices implemented by smaller cities with a population between 50 000 and 249 999 inhabitants.

iCapital is one of the four EIC Prizes granted under Horizon Europe, the EU's research and innovation framework programme. The prize is managed by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, and the winners are chosen following an assessment performed by two high-level juries of independent experts.

More information:

• The European Capital of Innovation Awards (europa.eu)