Through the support of ICLEI and its partner organisations, a collection of 73 impressive innovators recently submitted their projects to a cultural heritage start-up competition. Of these, 25 were chosen as first-round finalists still in the running to win the grand prize. And, of those first-round finalists, 15 projects were ultimately shortlisted to pitch their ideas to an impressive panel of juries. Discover the finalist projects here.

Start-ups working in cultural heritage submitted their ideas for the chance to win quite a prize: access to a mentoring and acceleration programme – valued at €15,000 – to enhance the readiness of their business ideas, including fine-tuning their models, drawing up their business plans, and scouting investors.

The competition will bolster the most promising ideas in the field of cultural heritage adaptive reuse, inspired by circular economy principles. It is open to early-stage startups, informal teams and talented innovators. Finalist projects span three main themes: circular and creative cities and regions; circular tourism; and circular creative industries and social innovation.

Only 15 finalists have been selected to head to the final stage of competition: pitching to the jury from 25–27 November.

The competition is being organised by the CLIC project, in which ICLEI Europe coordinates "Heritage Innovative Partnerships", which convene representatives from cities and regions with research partners.

For more information, click here.