The European Capital of Innovation Awards (iCapital)

Closed

Programme Category

EU Competitive Programmes

Programme Name

Horizon Europe (2021-2027)

Programme Description

Horizon Europe is the European Union (EU) funding programme for the period 2021 – 2027, which targets the sectors of research and innovation. The programme’s budget is around € 95.5 billion, of which € 5.4 billion is from NextGenerationEU to stimulate recovery and strengthen the EU’s resilience in the future, and € 4.5 billion is additional aid.

Programme Details

Identifier Code

HORIZON-EIC-2023-ICAPITAL-PRIZE-02

Call

The European Capital of Innovation Awards (iCapital)

Summary

The European Capital of Innovation Awards aim to champion inspiring cases of municipality-enabled innovation flourishing in cities. The Awards are a prestigious recognition for city administrators who are courageous enough to open up their governance practices to experimentation, to boost innovation by all means, to be a role model for other cities, and to push the boundaries of technology for the benefit of their citizens. In addition to the monetary reward, the prize brings high visibility in the form of renewed public interest and increased media coverage.

Detailed Call Description

The Awards will feature two categories:

  • European Capital of Innovation 2023 category.
  • European Rising Innovative 2023 City category.

Prize

European Capital of Innovation 2023 category:

  • 1 winner: the winner will be named the European Capital of Innovation 2023 and will receive a prize of €1 000 000.
  • 2 runners-up cities: top two cities (ranked 2nd and 3rd) with the most disruptive innovation practices that lead to outstanding impact will be awarded each a prize of €100 000.

European Rising Innovative 2023 City category:

  • 1 winner: the winner will be named the European Rising Innovative City 2023 and will receive a prize of €500 000.
  • 2 runners-up cities: top two cities (ranked 2nd and 3rd) with the most disruptive innovation practices that lead to outstanding impact will be awarded a prize of €50 000.

Call Total Budget

See the detailed description.

Thematic Categories

  • Research, Technological Development and Innovation

Eligibility for Participation

  • Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions

Eligibility For Participation Notes

In order to be eligible, the applicant cities must comply with all the following criteria:

  • The candidate cities must be located in one of the EU Member States or Associated Countries to Horizon Europe.
  • 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 and the cites did not apply for the European Rising Innovative City category.

The candidate cities for the European Rising Innovative City category must have a population of 50 000 and up to 249,999 inhabitants.

  • Winners of former European Capital of Innovation Awards editions, as well as runners-up of the edition 2022 are not eligible. This does not apply to previous finalist cities.
  • Applicants that have already received an EU or Euratom prize cannot receive a second prize for the same activities.

Call Opening Date

08/03/2023

Call Closing Date

29/06/2023

National Contact Point(s)

Research and Innovation Foundation
29a Andrea Michalakopoulou, 1075 Nicosia,
P.B. 23422, 1683 Nicosia
Telephone: +357 22205000
Fax: +357 22205001
Email: support@research.org.cy
Websitehttps://www.research.org.cy/en/

Contact Persons:
George Christou
Scientific Officer
Email: gchristou@research.org.cy

Nedi Kaffa
Scientific Officer
Emailnkaffa@research.org.cy

(Publish Date: 15/03/2023-for internal use only)