09 Sep 2025
EIC presents semi-finalists of 2026 Capital of Innovation Awards
The European Innovation Council has announced the twelve cities that have been selected as semi-finalists for the European Capital of Innovation 2026 and European Rising Innovative City 2026. The iCapital Award recognises those cities that open their governance practices to experimentation and aim at being role models for other cities, by pushing the boundaries of innovation for the benefit of their citizens. Following a rigorous assessment by two panels of independent experts, the semi-finalists (in alphabetical order) are:
European Capital of Innovation category
- Alicante (Spain)
- Grenoble (France)
- Liverpool (United Kingdom)
- Riga (Latvia)
- Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
- The Hague (The Netherlands)
European Rising Innovative City category
- Aalborg (Denmark)
- Kranj (Slovenia)
- Nicosia (Cyprus)
- San Sebastian (Spain)
- Stavanger (Norway)
- Ulm (Germany)
Each city will be invited to a private hearing with the jury members, held remotely in the coming weeks. The jury members will then select three finalist cities for each category. On 3–4 December 2025, the winners and runners-up will be announced at the awards ceremony in the current European Capital of Innovation: Turin, Italy.
The prize includes substantial financial support: The European Capital of Innovation winner will receive € 1 million, while two runners-up will each get €100,000. The European Rising Innovative City winner will receive €500,000, with €50,000 awarded to each of the two runners-up.
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