28 Aug 2024
EIC presents semi-finalists of European Capital of Innovation Awards 2024
On 28 August 2024, the European Innovation Council (EIC) announced that twelve cities have qualified as semi-finalists in the tenth edition of the European Capital of Innovation (iCapital) Awards. These cities will compete to become the 2024 European Capital of Innovation or the European Rising Innovative City.
The EIC's iCapital prize recognises those cities that open their governance practices to experimentation and aim at being role models for other cities, by pushing the boundaries of technology for the benefit of their citizens.
The 2024 semi-finalists selected by two high-level juries of independent experts are (in alphabetical order):
European Capital of Innovation category
- Bristol (United Kingdom)
- Espoo (Finland)
- Tallin (Estonia)
- Tampere (Finland)
- Torino (Italy)
- West Midlands Combined Authority (United Kingdom)
The European Rising Innovative City category
- Braga (Portugal)
- Brugge (Belgium)
- Leiden (The Netherlands)
- Linz (Austria)
- Oulu (Finland)
- Tartu (Estonia)
Each city will be invited to a private, online hearing with the jury members, in September. The jury members will then select three finalist cities for each category. On 13 November 2024, one winner and two runners-up per category will be announced at the awards ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal, the 2023 iCapital winning city. 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. The winner of the European Rising Innovative City category will be awarded €500,000 with two runner-up cities receiving €50 000 each.
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