Meta-municipality: Athens as a European Capital of Innovation
Year: 2018 | Status: Completed-Awarded | Partners: City of Athens | Team: Maria Logotheti (Chief of Staff), Amalia Zepou (Vice Mayor), Elena Papalambrou (Mayor’s Advisor), Bob Palmer (External Consultant), Haris Biskos (Project Manager), Dina Ntziora (Project Coordinator), Katerina Apostolopoulou (Communications Lead) | Award/Program Budget: 1.000.000 Euros | Funding: European Union
The European Capital of Innovation award is an annual cash prize awarded to the European city that is best able to demonstrate its ability to harness innovation to improve the lives of its citizens.
In 2018, the municipality of Athens administration was nominated for the award showcasing the systematic work it did with its citizens to overcome its challenges in running the city. City of Athens entry demonstrated the innovative model of participative governance that is able to re-engage the disenchanted, do more with less and convey a very important message to the rest of Europe at a very particular moment: Innovation is a culture and a mind-set. Building a culture of inclusiveness, participation, a city where people want to belong.
Athens successful entry resulted in acquiring an award of 1.000.000 euros to further support its efforts and leaves a legacy to the city. A series of workshops, meet-ups and exchange platforms with national and international group of stakeholder resulted into an action plan to be handed over to the new coming Mayor of Athens.
