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European Com­mis­sion seeks ​“Cap­it­al of Innovation”

04.09.2013
The prize will reward the city which is build­ing the best ​“innov­a­tion eco­sys­tem”, con­nect­ing cit­izens, pub­lic organ­isa­tions, aca­demia, and busi­ness. Giv­en that 68% of the EU pop­u­la­tion now lives in urb­an areas, it is these areas that will con­trib­ute the most to mak­ing Europe more innov­at­ive. Cit­ies foster innov­a­tion in their own pro­vi­sion of ser­vices, but the key is to cre­ate the right envir­on­ment for oth­ers to innov­ate and to allow the pub­lic and private spheres to con­nect. An inde­pend­ent pan­el of experts will select the win­ner in spring 2014, with the city chosen receiv­ing €500,000 towards scal­ing up its efforts. The dead­line for applic­a­tions is 3 Decem­ber 2013. Cit­ies will be judged both on ini­ti­at­ives and achieve­ments until now, as well as their future ideas to enhance innov­at­ive capa­city. They will have to demon­strate that they are fol­low­ing a com­pre­hens­ive strategy that is: 
  • Innov­at­ive — in terms of con­cepts, pro­cesses and tools.
  • Inspir­ing – with the aim of attract­ing tal­ent, fund­ing, invest­ment and cit­izens’ involve­ment and engagement.
  • Integ­rated – demon­strat­ing links with the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy, namely smart, sus­tain­able and inclus­ive growth across Europe.
  • Inter­act­ive — build­ing a com­munity for innov­a­tion with­in the city and with oth­er cities.
The con­test is open to cit­ies in any EU Mem­ber State or coun­try asso­ci­ated to the EU’s research frame­work pro­gramme. The award is for cit­ies with over 100,000 inhab­it­ants and for ini­ti­at­ives that have been run­ning since at least 1 Janu­ary 2010. In coun­tries where there is no city with more than 100,000 inhab­it­ants, the largest city is eli­gible to apply. Can­did­ate cit­ies should vis­it the iCap­it­al award web­site for inform­a­tion and rules and con­di­tions. Ques­tions about applic­a­tions can also be sent to: rtd-i-capital(at)ec.europa.eu.

Back­ground

Innov­a­tion is cent­ral to eco­nom­ic growth and busi­ness com­pet­it­ive­ness, and is at the heart of the Europe 2020 strategy. The European Uni­on has set itself the goal of becom­ing an ​‘Innov­a­tion Uni­on’. Through its research and innov­a­tion and region­al policies, the EU has been pro­mot­ing smart and sus­tain­able urb­an devel­op­ment. The next EU research and innov­a­tion pro­gramme, Hori­zon 2020, will run from 2014 to 2020. It will con­cen­trate more than ever on fund­ing the whole ​‘innov­a­tion chain’, from sci­entif­ic break­through to close-to-mar­ket devel­op­ment. Future EU region­al fund­ing will also focus more on research and innov­a­tion, for instance build­ing research infra­struc­ture. Source: European Commission
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