Leuven is one of the six finalists in the European iCapitalAwards contest - promoting and rewarding innovative European cities. The contest dossier was sent in by Leuven MindGate, together with the city of Leuven and Leuven2030.
Six cities championing outstanding innovation strategies to improve the lives of citizens and business entered the final stage of this year's European Capital of Innovation contest funded under Horizon 2020, the EU research and innovation programme.
Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said:
Many European cities are world leaders in urban innovation. They find new ways of involving citizens in community life, support business growth or adapt to global challenges and sustain the local social fabric. All of the contestants for the European Capital of Innovation title are testament to such efforts. I look forward to announcing the winner at next month’s awarding ceremony.
The winner – European Capital of Innovation 2018 – will be announced on 6 November at the Web Summit in Lisbon (Portugal). The city demonstrating the best innovation ecosystem will win a prize of €1 million to scale up its innovation activities. Five runners-up will receive €100 000 each.
This year’s European Capital of Innovation Awards was launched in February 2018. Twenty-six eligible cities from 16 countries applied to the competition. The contest was open to cities with over 100 000 inhabitants from EU Member States and Countries Associated to Horizon 2020, the EU's research and innovation programme. Barcelona, Amsterdam and Paris won the competition in 2014, 2016 and 2017 respectively.