Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Barcelona win the Eurocities 2010 Awards

The Dutch cities Amsterdam and Eindhoven have been, along with Barcelona, the winners of the Eurocities 2010 awards in the categories of 'Innovation', 'Cooperation' and 'Participation' respectively. The awards were presented during the Gala of welcome of the Assembly General of Eurocities, held last November in Zaragoza.

A gala whose objective was to become the stage for first making contact with Zaragoza for the more than 400 delegates (mayors, Lieutenant Mayor, councillors and technicians) in Eurocities.

Eindhoven has won the award in the category of innovation. Facing a difficult economic situation in the context of globalization, the city of Eindhoven was aware that the region was the appropriate level to combine the proximity and competitiveness on a global scale. He decided to meet to do so to the three regional economic actors (public authorities, industry and knowledge institutes) in the 'Foundation Brainport', which aims to promote collaboration on strategic projects as part of a regional economic agenda, focusing on regional assets. Today Brainport Eindhoven is a region very valued and recognized both nationally and internationally in the field of the knowledge industry.

For its part, Barcelona has won the award of cooperation thanks to ' Do it in Barcelona', a local comprehensive initiative promoted by Barcelona Activa, Barcelona City Council's Local Development Agency, in order to attract talent and entrepreneurship to Barcelona. ' Do it in Barcelona' goes beyond the traditional brand of city initiatives offering a range of support services to four types of target: foreign, professional entrepreneurs qualified, researchers and graduate students, who have thought to come to Barcelona to set up a businessto find a qualified job, investigate or pursue postgraduate studies.

Finally, Amsterdam took the award in the field of participation. Free State of Amsterdam was the contribution of the Dutch capital in the 4th International Biennial of Rotterdam in 2009, that theme was ' open city: designing coexistence '. It was a combined exposure with a programme of events and discussions on the future of Amsterdam. Residents and visitors were invited to join the discussion and share their points of view.