To content
Department of Social Sciences
iCapital Award 2021

Dortmund wins international competition and is the European capital of innovation

The video tiles of the Dortmund U emit the flag of the EU visible from afar. © The City Of Dortmund
The city of Dortmund wins the “iCapital Award 2021” and lets the Dortmunder U shine in the flag of the European Union.

Dortmund wins the “iCapital Award 2021 - European Capital of Innovation” and thus becomes the European Capital of Innovation in 2021. The application's slogan was “Innovation Next Door - Future from the Neighborhood”. The title was awarded by the European Innovation Council as part of the Horizon Program of the European Commission.

The focus of the application was the city's innovation model with its wide range of social, sustainable and technology-oriented projects and strategic approaches. Social innovation plays an important role in the understanding of innovation in the City of Dortmund.

In Dortmund, social innovations arise in particular through collaboration, for example in the decade project "nordwärts", in special competitions such as “greenhouse.ruhr" or in creative locations such as the Union Gewerbehof. Committed citizens also contribute their good ideas in numerous analog and digital dialogue formats, e.g. at the "Helpathon", in which ideas for the time with and after Corona were collected together.

Activities such as the "Mas­ter­plan Wis­sen­schaft" ("Science Master Plan") have contributed to the success. The Social Research Center from the Faculty of Social Sciences is represented with the project “iResilience”.

The joint project helps to make cities more resistant to the effects of climate change – such as heat and heavy rain with the help of intelligent infrastructures and social innovations. Furthermore, the Social Research Center is represented with the project "T-Factor" – in close connection with the Dortmunder U – in the "Innovation next door" campaign in the area of ​​"Hotspots and networks as innovation drivers". T-Factor examines the potential of temporary projects in urban renewal for sustainable district development. In addition, the Social Research Center was significantly involved in the development of the Social Innovation Center of the Dortmund Economic Development Agency in the context of the “KoSI-Lab” project.