Leuven is European Capital of Innovation 2020
EIT Food, A Knowledge and Innovation Community funded by the European Union, congratulates the city of Leuven, Leuven 2030 and Leuven MindGate on winning the award for European Capital of Innovation 2020.
Having our headquarters and one of our regional offices in Leuven, we have been contributing innovations to this region since 2016, and are looking forward to continuing our journey in this vibrant innovative city.
The award recognises Leuven’s excellence for developing and implementing innovative concepts, processes, and governance models – enabling a framework that makes innovation happen. brings ideas to life. The municipality will receive a €1,000,000 prize funded under Horizon 2020, the EU research and innovation programme.
Dr. Andy Zynga, CEO of EIT Food, said:
“As EIT Food, we are proud to be part of, and contributing to Leuven's innovative culture. With the efforts of our key Leuven-based partners, through our engagements under Leuven 2030 and by further deepening our collaboration, Leuven is on track to becoming a beacon of inspiration for a healthy, sustainable, and innovative urban future. I congratulate innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs, and citizens of Leuven. Mayor Mohamed Ridouani and his team can be proud of their achievement.”
Amongst Leuven’s innovative initiatives is EIT Food’s “Sustainable Cities” project. This project helps redesign fundamental city functions to transform cities into sustainable and resilient communities. As one of the 3 partner cities, Leuven will play a critical role model as a testbed for new innovations.
Leuven is the sixth city to win the European Capital of Innovation award, and the third non-capital city after Barcelona and Nantes. The city aims to become one of Europe’s Labs of the Future through a mission-oriented model that facilitates collaborative innovation. Different groups of stakeholders come together, with the common purpose of innovating around complex challenges from climate change and the shift to a circular economy to ensuring high-quality education and care. Leuven is not only providing increased opportunities for innovating to its citizens but also actively involving them in testing their ideas in the city.