New EU Tech Institute Gets the Nod

After final approval from EU lawmakers, the European Institute of Innovation & Technology will start operating this summer

by Lucia Kubosova

The European Parliament has given the final green light needed to set up a new EU technology institute, after two years of discussions in Brussels on the structure, financing and even the name of the new body.

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is set to start operating this summer, on the basis of "knowledge communities" created by the existing universities and centres of excellence across the continent working together on projects financed by the EU.

Its main aim is to help boosting Europe's investment in technology and innovation and its capacity to attract the world's leading researchers and scientists, as well as promote a link between academia and the private sector.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who has been lobbying strongly for the project, welcomed the approval, saying: "It will help to continue to boost jobs and growth in Europe in the future."

"By allowing networking on an unprecedented scale, European research and innovation can move into a new dimension," Mr Barroso said in a statement.

MEPs supported a compromise put forward by member states in a second reading on Tuesday (11 March), as it included all the previous suggestions by parliamentarians.

Only the Greens produced an amendment, which could have lead to a refusal of the common position, as they fear the institute will have funding problems. But this was rejected by their colleagues.

The funding issue featured high in the two-year-long debate over the new research centre. For the moment, the EU has formally agreed to put aside €308.7 million, while the commission estimates it will need an overall budget of €2.4 billion for the first six years.

Brussels expects that amount to be gathered from a combination of private and public sources but the parliament, and national capitals also agreed to change the bloc's seven-year-long plan for EU financing to provide more funds for the institute.

Seat and structure

Instead of one brand new institute similar to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US -- as originally considered by the commission -- the EU has opted for a light two-tier structure, a Governing Board and numerous research communities in various countries.

Under the agreed scenario, the board would select higher education institutions, research organisations, companies and other stakeholders to form autonomous partnerships called "Knowledge and Innovation Communities" (KICs).

Every KIC would consist of at least three partner organisations, situated in at least two different member states and including at least one higher education institution and one private company.

While not awarding academic degrees itself, the institute will encourage universities taking part in projects financed by it to add an EIT label to the degrees and diplomas they award.

The last issue that remains to be decided is where to house the institute -- something EU leaders may decide when they meet for a summit in Brussels tomorrow (13 March).

Some MEPs advocated their countries as candidates including Poland's Wroclaw, Austria's Vienna and Hungary's Budapest.

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