Success for Hamburg: As a participant in the European Capital of Innovation Award competition, the Hanseatic city is among the top 12 nominated cities
Initial success for Hamburg: The Hanseatic city has made it into the Top 12 of the cities nominated for the European Capital of Innovation Award (I-Capital Award). The prize to the value of 1 million euros has been awarded annually by the European Commission since 2014. A total of 27 cities have entered the competition. The 12 through to the nomination stage include, apart from Hamburg, Aarhus, Antwerp, Athens, Bristol, Gothenburg, Liege, Lisbon, Madrid, Toulouse, Umea and Vienna (www.ec.europa.eu/icapital). Last year’s winner was Paris. The prize will be awarded on 6 November 2018 in Lisbon.
The right way
“The nomination shows that we are on course to shape our city’s growth in a proactive way through innovation and to combine it with improving economic performance, quality of life and pro-climate policies,” Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher says. In the complex application process, cities are required to set out how they are implementing innovative solutions to social challenges. These solutions can either have been concluded or be ongoing, with the precondition that they are implemented in the year of application. A forum of independent experts from all over Europe decides on the winner, and the prize will be awarded during the Web Summit in Lisbon on November 6, 2018.
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Benefit for Hamburg
“The good news from Brussels provides a boost to us in positioning and profiling Hamburg as a responsible innovation metropolis that is fit for the future,” says Rolf Strittmatter, CEO of Hamburg Marketing GmbH. “Cities both in Europe and all over the world are everywhere facing similar challenges. The European Capital of Innovation Award aims to stimulate exchange between European cities regarding innovative solutions and makes a contribution to securing and increasing our city’s economic performance and competitiveness in a sustainable way, and so also resident’s quality of life. This is the real benefit for Hamburg.”