The EC has released its strategy for the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) for 2021-2027, which receives a new legal base and two new KICs.
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) supports the European Union’s (EU) innovation capacity. It is an independent body set up by the European Commission (EC) in 2008, and the EC has now proposed a budget increase of 25% for the new period of 2021-2027 (now up to €3 billion), which will come from the overall budget for the next generation framework programme for research and innovation (R&I), Horizon Europe. The newly published Strategic Innovation Agenda (2021-2027) sets out three goals for the EIT to achieve in the coming years. Firstly, the EIT needs to increase the regional impact of Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). KICs aim to connect companies and research institutions from different countries to form partnerships and boost the EU’s innovation potential through funding education and training on innovation. By increasing the regional outreach of KICs and by connecting KICs to the EU’s smart specialisation strategy (see the EU’s smart specialisation platform), the KICs’ networks will become stronger and their work will be more inclusive for new partners. Secondly, through supporting 750 higher education institutions, the EIT shall boost the innovation capacity of these institutions, especially in countries with lower innovation capacity. The EIT currently supports eight KICs, and its third goal is to support an additional two, which correspond to policy priorities of Horizon Europe. The first of those new KICs will start in 2022 and addresses cultural and creative industries. The focus of the second one is not yet defined. It will start in 2025.
In addition to the new Strategic Innovation Agenda for 2021-2017, the EC has proposed an updated legal base for the EIT. This legal base aims to align the EIT with the strategic planning process of the new R&I framework programme, Horizon Europe, by aligning the EIT priorities to Horizon Europe priorities. The revised regulation introduces a simplified funding model for the EIT for the future, as well as a reinforcement of the EIT’s current governing structure. Both, the revised regulation of the EIT and the new Strategic Innovation Agenda have to be adopted in a next step by the European Parliament (EP) and the Council of the EU (Council).
Science Business has published an article on 15 July 2019, which reported on the new KIC for cultural and creative industries. It mentions that the launch of this new public-private partnership goes back to the efforts of some Members of European Parliament (MEP), who were pushing for those topics to be included in Horizon Europe (the article specifically points out German MEP Christian Ehler (EPP), co-rapporteur for the Horizon Europe file). The article further mentions that the EC wants to reassure the deployment of complementary actions to the EIT under different pillars of Horizon Europe. Those include synergies with the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) under the pillar I ‘open science’, which provide researchers with funding to pursue their careers in academia. Secondly it includes the pilots for the European Innovation Council (EIC) (see SwissCore article), which are deployed within the current R&I programme, Horizon 2020. The EIC is responsible for bringing start-ups to the market via different channels of financing and will be part of pillar III ‘open innovation’. Both MSCA and the EIT are under the responsibility of the Directorate General for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (DG EAC), whereas the Directorate General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) coordinates the rest of Horizon Europe.