Report proposes alternative EIT model
A report by the United Nations University (UNU) and commissioned by the European Parliament has proposed an alternative model for the European Institute of Technology (EIT) to that proposed by the European Commission. The UNU report starts from the premise that converting knowledge into commercial or critical mass is not problematic in all EU Member States. 'Ignoring this fact might result in assuming too easily that a European level institutional solution is necessary in cases where national or regional approaches might be more appropriate,' write the authors. The report points to the European Commission's Innovation Scoreboard, which shows that several smaller European countries, and Germany, are performing as well as, if not better than, the US and Japan. The Commission's EIT proposal envisages a network of Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), or communities of excellence around Europe. The UNU proposes creating an EIT that will make the most of Europe's strongholds, creating up to 20 EITs, each with its own multidisciplinary theme, and each linked to, or at, a strong university. Each will focus on a theme identified by a board as being a major driver for industrial development over the next 10 to 20 years, and each would be known as a European Technology Institute in this field. Depending on their field, a variety of collaborative schemes with companies could be established. Competition would lead to the selection of proposals from strong regional or national consortia wishing to host an EIT. One-third of funding would come from the EU, one-third from regional or national sources, and one-third from public or private sources. The UNU also proposes that additional funds of around €500 million could be taken from an Innovation Fund, which would use part of the money left over each year from the EU budget.