On December 3–4, 2025, Torino hosted the Cities Innovate Summit, an international event dedicated to the future of European cities. The initiative, held at OGR Torino, brought together city administrations, experts, and stakeholders to address topics such as digital transition, sustainability, talent attraction, and economic growth.
The Summit featured three key components:
- Eurocities Economic Development Forum (EDF), focused on urban economic development strategies and the creation of innovative ecosystems;
- European Capital of Innovation Awards (iCapital) Ceremony, which recognized Europe’s most innovative cities and, as customary, was hosted by the current year’s winner;
- International exchange sessions aimed at accelerating the green and digital transformation.
A Summit Dedicated to the Future of Cities
During the sessions, European cities and their stakeholders shared strategies to drive green and digital transformation, strengthen social cohesion, and attract investments. Key topics included urban identity and city branding: examples from Barcelona and Ghent demonstrated how collaboration and the promotion of local specificities can strengthen innovative ecosystems. The link between sustainable tourism models and talent attraction was also discussed, including during the iCapital Awards sessions, with insights from San Sebastian, Bologna, and Torino itself.
Virtuous models of innovation districts were also presented: OGR Torino, the beautiful venue hosting the event, alongside experiences like London’s Here East, which successfully gave a new identity and community-oriented innovation purpose to a neighborhood that, after the 2012 Olympics, was left with unused infrastructure and no cultural or technological center for the local population.
The Summit highlighted how cities are the places where Europe’s industrial future will be built, through policies of reindustrialization, electrification, and innovation, as well as incentives to attract and retain talent, as exemplified by the Torino Talent Gateway.
During the iCapital Awards ceremony, Grenoble Alpes Metropole was named European Capital of Innovation 2026, receiving the award from the 2025 winner, Torino. The French city is joined on the podium by Rotterdam and Liverpool. In the “Rising Innovative City” category, Aalborg took first place, followed by San Sebastian and Nicosia.
Hosting the Cities Innovate Summit confirms Torino’s role as a European hub for innovation, capable of attracting investment and promoting policies focused on sustainability and technological growth. The next edition will take place in Barcelona in 2026.
To read Eurocities’ retrospective, you can click here.
