The traditional city innovation ecosystem is opening up to new models of innovation engaging citizens.

An increasing number of cities are acting as test beds for innovation and run citizens-driven initiatives to find solutions for their relevant societal challenges.

The public domain is particularly challenged with finding effective ways to ensure the mainstreaming of these practices into the ordinary urban development process. Successful practices are particularly crucial to enhance the city's capacity to attract new resources, funds and talents to stimulate the growth of breakthrough innovations. Moreover, collaboration and strengthening synergies among innovation ecosystems boost cities’ development and resilience to tackle urban challenges.

For this reason, the European Capital of Innovation Awards will recognize the cities’ role as catalysers of the local innovation ecosystem and will stimulate new activities aimed at boosting game-changing innovation.

1. Admissibility conditions: described in the rules of contest

 Proposal page limits and layout: 30. For further information, please see the rules of contest.

 2. Eligible countries: the candidate city must be located in one of the EU Member State or Associated Country to Horizon Europe. For further information, please see the rules of contest.

 3. Other eligibility conditions:

1. For the category of European Capital of Innovation, the candidate city must have a population of minimum 250 000 inhabitants. In countries where there are no such cities, the biggest cities are eligible and can only apply to a single category, provided that their population is of minimum 50 000 inhabitants. The candidate cities for the European Rising Innovative City category must have a population of 50 000 and up to 249,999 inhabitants.
2. Winners of former European Capital of Innovation Awards editions, as well as runners-up of the edition organised one year prior to the current edition are not eligible. This does not apply to previous finalist cities.

For further information, please see the rules of contest.

 4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: For further information, please see the rules of contest.

 5. Evaluation and award:

•  Award criteria, scoring and thresholds: 
• 1: Experimenting – innovative concepts, processes, tools, and governance models proving the city's commitment to act as a test-bed for innovative practices, while ensuring the mainstreaming of these practices into the ordinary urban development process. 
• 2: Escalating – accelerating the growth of highly innovative start-ups and SMEs by establishing an innovation friendly legal framework, creating an environment that stimulates growth, private and public investments, resources and talents; and driving innovation demand through efficient innovation public procurement. The city is expected to provide details on concrete results of the showcased initiatives.
• 3: Ecosystem building – unlocking the city’s potential as local innovation ecosystem facilitators by fostering synergies among different innovation ecosystem players, from public, industry, civil society, citizens to academia, to contribute to the development of an innovation ecosystem within the city.
• 4: Expanding – acting as a role model for other cities by supporting the dissemination and replication of tested solutions that boost the local innovation ecosystem; by promoting mutual learning, knowledge transfer and capacity building; and by enhancing cooperation and synergies between cities that are front-runners in driving the local innovation ecosystem, and those that are still exploring and testing their role as innovation enablers.
• 5: City innovative vision – applicants should demonstrate their long-term strategic vision/plan, highlighting the innovative initiatives that have positively contributed to the transformation of the city and which will further support the development of a robust and sustainable innovation ecosystem. 

•  Submission and evaluation processes: For further information, please see the rules of contest.

•  Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: jury evaluation will take place between July and October 2021. For further information, please see the rules of contest.

 6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: For further information, please see the rules of contest.

Call document and annexes:

Rules of contest

Mock application form

Officially opened from: 18.03.2021.
First application deadline: 15.07.2021
Total budget: 1.8 M €