Brussels, 11/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - With the adoption of a general partial approach, the Council defined, on Tuesday 11 December, the priority areas of the strategic innovation programme for the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) for the period 2014 to 2020.
These priority areas will materialise through the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) which are composed of public and private organisations to study the major challenges facing society. The selection of two new CCI generations will be carried out by the EIT alone in two successive “waves” - in 2014 and in 2018. The Council has opted for a closed list of themes that will guide the EIT in its choices. At the present time, only the themes for the 2014 “wave” have been defined. There are three themes: 1) innovation in favour of a healthy life and active ageing; 2) raw materials - prospection, extraction, sustainable transformation, recycling and substitution; and 3) food for the future (Food4Future) - a sustainable supply chain from source to consumer.
For the second wave, the choice of themes will be based on how needs evolve, although some themes are already favourites (urban mobility, manufacturing industry with added value, and intelligent and safe societies). Nonetheless, the exact number of CCIs will above all be determined by the budget that will be intended for the new framework programme for research and innovation, “Horizon 2020”. And that, after the failure of the last European Summit, is still uncertain. (JK/transl.jl)