Liverpool has been named as a runner-up for the title of European Capital of Innovation 2026.
The news was unveiled at a special ceremony in Turin, Italy, where a panel of judges announced Grenoble-Alpes Métropole as the winner, narrowly defeating Rotterdam and Liverpool to the title.
As a runner-up, Liverpool will receive prize money of €100,000 and will be invited to join the prestigious iCapital Alumni network, composed of previous finalists of the iCapital Awards, including Amsterdam, Lisbon, Barcelona and London.
18 years after Liverpool flourished as European Capital of Culture, the city’s leaders had identified that competing for the 2026 European Capital of Innovation title could have similar long-term, positive benefits for the city’s economy and its global reputation.
Being a finalist has the potential to unlock even greater opportunities for local residents to pursue futures in innovation careers, while businesses gain greater access to further new partnerships, funding, and markets, attracting investors and organisations from across Europe and beyond to the city’s knowledge economy.
Liverpool’s bid was devised by a team of public and private sector representatives from across the city region. Entitled ‘LIFE’ (‘Liverpool Innovates For Everyone’), it sought to reflect the city and city region’s commitment to inclusive innovation and the importance of sharing the benefits and opportunities of its knowledge economy across the wider community.
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:
“Liverpool has long been a place for pioneers and reaching the final three of this competition underlines our status as a contemporary global leader across a range of innovation disciplines including health and life sciences, pharmaceuticals, materials chemistry, AI and robotics.
“Our city region is moving forward with a renewed sense of ambition and confidence – Liverpool had a huge part to play in this country’s economic past and it will play a major role in its future.”
Cllr. Liam Robinson, Leader of Liverpool City Council, said:
“Liverpool is rightly known the world over for its excellent culture and tourism offering, its incredible history and its undoubted sense of place, all of which was underlined by European Capital of Culture status in 2008. Being named among the finalists at European Capital of Innovation is a further endorsement of our efforts to build our global reputation as a centre of innovation.
“We have world-leading assets and organisations working to make the world a better place, beginning right here in Liverpool. Our project title, LIFE, exemplifies our mission to deliver innovation that improves people’s lives and become a beacon of best practice that allows us to mutually benefit others.”
Colin Sinclair, chief executive of Knowledge Quarter Liverpool, said:
“I’ve always said that we do things differently in Liverpool. Innovation and creativity is in our DNA. We wrote and presented a bid that demonstrated how the City and City Region has benefitted from embracing inclusive innovation and I’m proud that the judges have recognised that today in placing us in the top three best cities in Europe for Innovation”
“This bid, written at relatively short notice, shows the strength of Team Liverpool and our ability to pull together, quickly, respond to opportunity, and get our city and city region recognised on the world stage. This feels like just the first step on the journey to making Liverpool the best overall place to live, work, study, visit and invest in the UK”.
Professor Louise Kenny, executive pro vice chancellor at the University of Liverpool, said:
“Liverpool’s health and life sciences community has an excellent track record at the forefront of world-leading discoveries. To be recognised among the elite at the European Capital of Innovation final puts us once again in the global frame and hopefully helps local communities to further understand and take pride in the innovation opportunities on their doorstep.
“Our ambition is to attract even more of the most talented students to come here to learn, research and spin-out their ideas, as well as encouraging investors and organisations to place Liverpool at the centre of their plans.”
Professor Kenny, Colin Sinclair, Mayor Rotheram and Cllr. Robinson delivered the city’s bid at a private hearing at the semi final stage. They were supported by Professor Mark Power, vice-chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, Andrew Lewis, chief executive of Liverpool City Council and chair of Knowledge Quarter Liverpool, Sarah Jackson, director of research, partnerships and innovation at the University of Liverpool, Claire McColgan, director of culture and major events at Liverpool City Council, Lorna Green, CEO at Lyva Labs, and Seamus Kennedy, an intern from KQ Liverpool’s Futures Programme.
Supported by the European Innovation Council (EIC) under Horizon Europe, iCapital recognises cities that open their governance practices to experimentation and aim at being role models for other cities, by pushing the boundaries of innovation for the benefit of their citizens.
