Leuven and Antwerp are participating in the competition to be named European Capital of Innovation in 2018.
The winning city will get a prize of €1 million, and five other cities will receive €100,000 each.
The other contenders this year are Aarhus, Athens, Bristol, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Lisbon, Madrid, Toulouse, Umeå, and Vienna.
Applications are judged by a panel of independent experts from across Europe, looking at initiatives completed or ongoing in the past two years.
The next stage is for the finalists to present their innovation strategies during the European week of regions and cities, which takes place in Brussels in October. The shortlist will then be narrowed down to six cities, with the winner announced on 6 November in Lisbon.
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