The Council of the European Union discussed the EIT regulation and strategic innovation agenda and asked for a regular revision.
The European Institutions are currently discussing a new legislative package for the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), an EU body created in 2008 with the aim of strengthening Europe’s ability to innovate. The EIT supports the integration of education, research and business in the innovation ecosystem and funds consortia of higher education institutions, research organisations and industry known as ‘Knowledge and Innovation Communities’ (KICs), each set up to tackle a specific societal challenge. The EIT is currently funded through the Horizon 2020 programme, but has its own separate legal base and governance structure. It will become an integral part of the third pillar of the future framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon Europe, from 2021 onwards. The files under negotiation as we speak, include the new EIT Regulation, setting out the EIT’s mission and objectives and providing the rules on the governance of the EIT, as well as its Strategic Innovation Agenda.
The Council of the European Union (Council) in its configuration of research ministers (COMPET) discussed the files in its meeting on 29 November 2019. The Council was able to reach a partial general approach (PGA) on the amendments in the proposed EIT regulation, which will allow negotiations with the European Parliament (EP) to begin. The most important changes in the proposed EIT regulation concern the financial sustainability and openness of the KICs, the principles behind monitoring and evaluation as well as the role of EU member states and framework programme associated countries in the governance of KICs. In addition, the European Commission (EC) had proposed a ‘time neutrality’ clause in the regulation, which should help avoid a renegotiation of the EIT regulation ahead of each new MFF and make it more independent from EU institution scrutiny. This time neutrality was heavily debated among Member States. The Council PGA thus now includes an additional revision clause, which requires the EC to consider a modification of the EIT regulation if needed based on evaluation results until 2026. In addition, the Council suggests making a specific link in the text between the EIT and ‘Horizon Europe’ in particular, rather than research and innovation framework programmes in general, which would mean an adaptation of the regulation becomes necessary once Horizon Europe is ending.
The Council did not yet reach an agreement on the second file of the EIT, the Strategic Innovation Agenda. It limited the discussions to acknowledging progress on the file, since some aspects remain unclear. Open issues include the proposed support mechanisms for higher education institutions and the geographical distribution of the KICs. The EIT runs a Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS), which should facilitate the engagement of modest and moderate innovation countries with the EIT KICs (see article) The Council plans to return to the file in its next meeting at the end of February. Interinstitutional negotiations with the EP can start after the EP has taken its own position, which may not be before summer 2020.
However, EIT activities continue despite the current debates. The EIT is expanding its reach and has in December just opened its second international office after Silicon Valley in Tel Aviv, Israel. The choice of the location recognises Israel’s success in developing start-up companies. A third hub of the EIT will open in Beijing in early 2020. The EIT international offices operate under the lead of a specific KIC with a particular interest and activities in the area and take other KICs on board. In November, the EIT also launched the activities for two new Innovation Communities, EIT Urban Mobility and EIT Manufacturing, which were awarded already at the end of 2018 and rise the number of KICs to eight.