Tel Aviv Wins Second Place In EU Innovation Contest

November 7, 2017 | The city of Tel Aviv-Yafo has won second place at the 2017 European Capital of Innovation, where it received a prize of over $100,000. Tel Aviv-Yafo was among 10 finalists up for the award and prize of over $1 million that recognizes the city with the best innovation ecosystem. Paris was awarded the first place prize for its mission to turn into a “FabCity” hosting the largest start-up campus in the world, which encourages innovative projects by citizens and entrepreneurs. Tel Aviv was recognized for its impressive high tech sector programs and city policies, leading to the highest concentration of accelerator programs in Europe. The winners were announced on November 7, 2017 at the Lisbon Web Summit. Other finalists included Nice (France), Copenhagen (Denmark), Helsinki (Finland), and more. The 2017 European Capital of Innovation award was launched in March 2017. Thirty-two cities from seventeen countries applied to this year’s competition. The winner and two runner-ups were selected based on initiatives launched since January 2016. The winner were chosen by a panel of experts selected from the Horizon 2020 expert database. [Photo: Courtesy]