EU innovation institute to start operations in Budapest 

The 27 European research ministers rubberstamped the decision to locate the headquarters of the EIT in the Hungarian capital during an intergovernmental conference on 18 June.

The meeting followed ministers' failed attempt to agree on the seat in late May, when Poland, which had hoped the city of Wroclaw would win the bid, vetoed the otherwise unanimously-backed candidate Budapest. But Poland was forced to give way after ministers agreed on a Slovenian presidency proposal to base the final decision on a 2003 agreement between EU leaders, giving priority for the new member states which do not already host a site or an EU agency. 

Only Budapest fit these conditions. Poland already hosts Frontex, the EU border security agency, and the three other candidates for the headquarters - Sant Cugat del Valles near Barcelona, Vienna-Bratislava and Jena (Germany) - are not located in new member states. The Slovenian Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology Mojca Kucler Dolinar said the other bidders' needs would nevertheless be taken into account in the future.

According to diplomatic sources, despite heavy lobbying until the final minutes by Poland and its bilateral partners, the country did not get any compensation for the fact that it agreed to back Budapest.

"I'm very glad that we were able to take the decision as each day without the EIT seat is a day wasted," said Kucler Dolinar, adding that the decision as such represented the final step in deciding on the establishment of the EIT, enabling it to start its work as soon as possible. 

The Commission presented the list of members it plans to nominate to the EIT Governing Board last week. The official nomination should take place in early July.

According to the Regulation establishing the EIT, once the Governing Board is established, it needs to select and designate two or three Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) within a period of 18 months, thus by the end of 2009.

KICs will bring together departments of universities, companies and research institutes to form an integrated partnership to perform education and innovation activities in inter-disciplinary strategic areas, such as climate change, renewable energy and the next generation of information and communiation technologies.