Dortmund is an innovation capital that thrives on many large and small ideas – developed at eye level by all participants in an open and creative environment. A unique innovation ecosystem that the city has built up in recent years makes it possible: diverse networks and a broad-based culture of communication bring people from civil society, science, business, culture and politics together to address the big questions of our time. The result: highly innovative projects and approaches with which we entered the race in Brussels for the title of European Innovation Capital 2021.
Title holders from previous years are Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, Athens, Nantes and Leuven. With its innovation model, which has grown over decades, Dortmund, together with many partners, prevailed in the 2021 final of the international competition against Dublin, Malaga and Vilnius with an application under the motto “Innovation next door – Future from the neighborhood”. The award comes with prize money of 1 million euros. The iCapital Award is an annual recognition award given to the European cities that best foster innovation in their communities. Neighborhood collaboration in innovation networks are at the heart of the Dortmund approach, which includes technological, social and cultural innovations. Because in Dortmund, innovations are created everywhere – whether in the lab, in the backyard or in the pub.