Tag: European institute of technology

One aspect of the current EU financial crisis has been the proliferation of EU actors within the Brussels circle and the exclusion of national-level actors, something that can endanger the idea of European integration in the future, warns Bernd Hüttemann of European Movement Germany.

Martin Schuurmans, chairman of the newly-formed European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), says he is "not pessimistic" about Europe's ability to lead on research and innovation. But it needs to speed up if it wants to keep up with global competitors, the EIT chairman told EurActiv in an interview.

A new 18 member-strong governing board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), appointed yesterday (30 July), has until the end of 2009 to identify, select and launch the first EU "innovation hubs", expected to cover the fields of climate change, renewable energy and ICT.

Following Poland's veto of the otherwise unanimously-backed Budapest as the seat for the European Innovation and Technology Institute (EIT), the final decision will now be taken by research ministers at an Intergovernmental Conference on 18 June.

Slovakia has joined Austria's bid to host the proposed European Institute of Innovation and Technology in the hope that a twin-city headquarters initiative will convince ministers to give them the nomination.

For the first time, the EU will be spending more on competitiveness than agriculture. After a conciliation meeting last Friday, the Council and Parliament reached an agreement on the 2008 budget, securing an extra €2.7 billion for the EU's two flagship projects - Galileo and the European Institute of Technology.

EU ministers in charge of research policy reached a political agreement this morning on the European Institute of Technology, leaving the more difficult issue of its financing to economy ministers discussing the 2008 budget today.

The Parliament's industry committee is waiting for the Commission and Council to come up with a realistic solution for the budget of the European Institute of Technology (EIT), before considering adoption of the proposal in plenary this Autumn.

The sooner the details on the European Technology Institute (ETI) are ready and concrete proposals are on the table, the sooner business will provide the cash to support it, according to EU business leaders. Their financial contribution to the institute could cover some 20-30% of the final costs.

The informal Competitiveness Council has backed a German Presidency initiative on gradual progress towards a European Institute of Technology and urged the Commission to quickly submit a convincing and concrete funding proposal for the institute.