Opportunities in Europe for innovation

and nurturing entrepreneurial talent:

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and its Knowledge and Innovation Communities

(KICs)

Endika Bengoetxea, EIT

7th December, San Francisco

THE EIT’s ENGINE: ITS KNOWLEDGE & INNOVATION COMMUNITIES (KICs)

• Highly integrated, creative, excellence-driven and autonomous long-term partnerships

• Driven by societal challenges: climate change mitigation and adaptation, future information and communication society and sustainable energy

• Fostering the emergence of entrepreneurs

Innovation hubs working across borders and with multidisciplinary approach.

KIC PARTNERS 2012

EIT ICT Labs 75 KIC Partners

Climate-KIC 86 KIC

Partners

KIC InnoEnergy 104 KIC Partners

In 2012, the three KIC brought together over 260 KIC Partners

Climate-KIC EIT ICT Labs KIC InnoEnergy0

10

20

30

40

50

60

23

31

23

30

25

59

25

16

19

8

3 3

AcademicIndustryResearchOther

EIT & “CROSS-KIC AGENDAS”

EDUCATIONPromoting excellent

education for creativity, innovation and

entrepreneurship by high quality EIT labelled degree programmes, fostering a

vibrant EIT student & alumni community.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Promoting an entrepreneurial mindset and culture,

including risk taking, by creating more favourable

environments for passionate entrepreneurial talent and entrepreneurship-driven innovation to flourish.

WORLD-CLASS INNOVATIONDeveloping innovative ecosystems to create and grow world-class,

breakthrough innovations by exploiting KIC synergies and complementarities.

EUROPEAN INSTITUTE OF INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY (EIT)

Facilitating the following transitions:

from idea to product

from lab to market

from student to entrepreneur

in areas of high societal need.

EIT’s ENTREPRENEURSHIP VISION AND MISSION

Vision: To establish the EIT as a

recognised role model and an impact-

oriented game-shifter for entrepreneurship

in Europe. Mission: To promote an entrepreneurial mindset and

culture by creating more favourable environments for passionate entrepreneurial talent and entrepreneurship-driven innovation

to flourish.

EIT ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARDS

• 1st edition of the Awards Ceremony: Feb. 2012, Brussels• 3 Award winners selected among 9 innovative business

ventures nominated by the KICs• EIT support for training and promotional activities,

access to the EIT’s network of contacts and EIT events, business coaching/mentoring to be integrated into the Awards scheme

Spotlighting entrepreneurial ventures & promoting the risk-taking culture in KICs and beyond

www.eitawards.eu

What do KICs offer to entrepreneurs?

• Access to the KIC infrastructure and network• Mentoring and business coaching to prepare and implement

business plans• Meeting potential business partners and new customers• Raising company’s own profile through KIC’s partners• Access to new technologies• Exploring markets beyond the home market• Thematic specialisation

• Comparative advantages• The market-orientation• Shorter time to market• Bridging the gap between academia and

business• Proximity to finance sources: seed funding,

VC…

EIT’s WORLD-CLASS INNOVATION VISION AND MISSION Vision: To produce world-leading

innovations in KICs’ thematic fields,

currently sustainable energy, ICT and

climate-change.

Mission: To encourage the exploration of a wide-range of new innovation models of world-class standard through KICs.

IMPLEMENTING THE VISION AND MISSION: Fostering world-class innovation by KICs

Developing an integrated EIT strategy for enhancing world-class innovation by KICs

Innovation panel: Structured collaboration with the KICs to support on world-class innovation models and projects

Seeding promising innovation eco-systems through the KICs.Funding for innovation projects: demonstrators, new products and services

Support on intellectual property aspects: use of patents, licensing…

EIT’s EDUCATIONAL VISION AND MISSION

Vision: To create entrepreneurially

and innovation minded people in

Europe. Mission: To deliver a unique brand of excellent education responsive to both business and societal demands, focused on innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity distinguished by an EIT label .

Overview of main education activities

Master and doctoral programmesInternational cooperation, Industry involvement

Master and doctoral schoolsTraining on specific skills and competencesMobility, Internships and Scholarships/fellowships

Executive training and post-doctoral courses

Continuous professional development

courses/modules

Learning modules and OER

Alumni and Outreach activities

EIT LABEL for excellent educational programmes at Master and

PhD levels implemented by the KICs

EIT overarching

learning outcomes

&

4 Quality criteria 1. Robust entrepreneurship

education

2. Highly integrated,

innovative "learning-by-

doing" curricula

3. Mobility, European

dimension and openness to

the world

4. Outreach strategy and

access policy

EIT Overarching Learning Outcomes: Knowledge Forms

Creativity skills and competences

Innovation skills and competences Entrepreneurship skills and competences

Research skills and competences

Leadership skills and competences

Intellectual transforming skills and competences

Making value judgements

Opportunities for PhD candidates, post-docs & experienced

researchers

Participation in Innovation projects e.g. Experience & Living Labs (EIT ICT Labs) - researchers

and engineers test and modify products in close collaboration with end-users in a real-life or a real-as-life setting

Training - Intensive courses/modules e.g. climate innovation school “the journey” - explore the

potential for launching start-up business ventures, support from Climate-KIC business coaches, business plan writing and presentation, access to network of international fellow innovators

Business creation services - support in developing business in the different phases of business creation and funding

e.g. KIC InnoEnergy Highway - business creation services; a European network and the first customer for start ups/spin ups; open for entries any time

More information at: www.eit.europa.eu

www.climate-kic.org www.eitictlabs.eu

www.kic-innoenergy.com

T H A

Y

N K

O U !