Brussels, 14/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 14 April, the European Commission opened a public consultation on the future strategy of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) following the success of its initial phase. The consultation, which will run until 3 June, will feed into a “strategic innovation agenda” for the EIT which the Commission is due to propose by the end of this year. The agenda will outline the Institute's main priorities until 2020, focusing on the Institute's mission and objectives, funding and future themes. “The idea of it is to build on the lessons learned from the Institute's first phase and to prepare the way for expanding the EIT. The Institute has the potential to become a powerful motor of innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe”, said European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou.
The EIT has its administrative headquarters in Budapest, but operates from 16 sites throughout Europe, from Barcelona to Stockholm, through cross-border public-private partnerships known as “knowledge and innovation communities”, or KICs for short. The KICs bring together excellent higher education institutions, research centres and businesses. To date, three KICs have been created, focusing on sustainable energy (InnoEnergy KIC), climate change (Climate KIC) and information and communication society (EIT ICTLabs). (I.L./transl.rt)