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THE LIVING CITY

From the creation of original products to the new information and communication technologies, local businesses are a major asset for the region. Covering the economy, banking, property, town planning, architecture and more, this section puts you in close touch with initiatives and changes in our towns.
April 2023

Métropole Aix-Marseille-Provence

The European Innovation Capital

First there was Athens, Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Dortmund.   On 7 December, the city of Marseilles joined the prodigious set of European Capitals of Innovation, a label that allows it to join the iCapital network.

By Maurice Gouiran
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Réunie autour de la Présidente de la Métropole Martine Vassal, l’équipe qui a porté le projet peut être fière !

This prize, which was created in 2015 by the European Commission, rewards cities or metropolises that aim to develop and promote an appealing innovative ecosystem for the benefit of its citizens. In the 2022 final, three cities were selected out of the two hundred applications: Espoo (Finland), the favourite, Valencia (Spain), and the AMP Metropolis. The award of the prestigious title went to AMP Metropolis! Such recognition owes nothing to chance if we consider the amount of work done upstream (9 to 10 months) to draft the application with the help of all the players of this exceptionally rich and dynamic ecosystem. 

With its «Innovating Diversity» tagline, the Metropolis’ candidacy highlighted its geographical, social or economic diversity and contrasts, just like a melting pot of the change at work in the region. 

Its argument was built on five main criteria: experimenting (serving as a test bed for innovative practices), accelerating (promoting the growth of highly innovative startups and SMEs), building an innovative ecosystem (promoting synergies between players), expanding (acting as a model for other cities by spreading the solutions invented by the Metropolis), offering the vision of an innovative city (creating a model of a sustainable Mediterranean city as part of a long-term strategic vision) and having ambition (to become a model of Mediterranean sustainable city.)

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