The city of Dortmund in Germany wins the iCapital award 2021

The winners of the seventh edition of the European Capital of Innovation Awards “iCapital” were announced during the first European Innovation Council Summit earlier this week. The city of Dortmund in Germany is the European Capital of Innovation 2021 and the city of Vantaa in Finland is the European Rising Innovative City.

iCapital award 2021

Two high-level juries of independent experts selected the winners and runners-up in the two prize categories after a rigorous examination process. Dublin, Ireland, and Malaga, Spain are tied for second place in the European Capital of Innovation category.

The third position goes to Vilnius, Lithuania. In the European Rising Innovative City category, Cascais, Portugal, and Trondheim, Norway, are ranked second and third, respectively.

“I am impressed by the outstanding work of all iCapital finalist cities. I am honoured to highlight these cities that are the real testbeds for innovation. They co-create bottom-up initiatives to achieve more sustainable urban development”, said Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.

These awards acknowledge cities’ long-term efforts to foster an atmosphere that encourages and supports innovation. The cities have come up with creative ideas, putting in place processes, tools, and governance models to achieve outstanding results.They could serve as powerful role models for cities across Europe and beyond that have been affected by the pandemic and will need to undergo transformation.

In addition to the award, the winner of the European Capital of Innovation category will receive a monetary prize of €1 million, with the two runners-up receiving €100,000. (Dublin and Malaga will share the prize). The winner of the European Rising Innovative City category will get €500,000, while the runners-up will each receive €50,000.

The iCapital Award

The seventh edition of the European Capital of Innovation Awards iCapital, sponsored by the European Innovation Council (EIC) and Horizon Europe, came to a close on Thursday, July 15th. A total of 39 applications were received from across the European Union and Horizon Europe Associated Countries in response to the invitation.

The European Union awards the iCapital Prize to cities with inclusive innovation ecosystems every year. The latter examines urban ecosystems that connect residents with government, academics, and enterprises in order to successfully integrate results into increased societal wellbeing while also fostering game-changing innovation.

The city of Barcelona received the first iCapital award in 2014. Amsterdam (2016), Paris (2017), Athens (2018), Nantes (2019), and Leuven (2020) are among the previous winners.
iCapital is one of the four EIC Prizes granted under Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation framework programme. A new category, the European Rising Innovative City, was introduced this year, which targeted towns and cities with populations of more than 50,000 but less than 249,999.

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