On November 7, the European Commission announced the winner of the European Capital of Innovation competition. The municipality of Tel Aviv took the second place together with the municipality of the city of Tallinn.

The competition for the title "European Capital of Innovations" was announced in March 2017 for the cities of the EU countries, as well as the partner countries participating in the program "Horizons 2020". In total 32 cities from seventeen countries took part in the competition. The winner was Paris, the second place was shared between Tel Aviv and Tallinn. This is reported by the EU Delegation in Israel

The main criterion was the readiness of cities to develop initiatives aimed at solving social problems.

Part of the prize of 100 thousand euros will be transferred to the implementation of the initiative Smart Education Initiative, which includes cooperation between teachers, parents, students and start-ups.

The EU ambassador to Israel, Emmanuel Jaffre, congratulated the Mayor of Tel Aviv, Ron Huldai. He said: "Israel became the first non-European country to become a full-fledged participant in the EU research program, which is now called" Horizons 2020 ". Today this program is the largest sponsor of scientific research in the world. The current award is another evidence of close ties between the EU and Israel. "