Consultation European Institute for Innovation and Technology

This position paper covers the following topics: 1) EIT mission, objectives and added value 2) KICs, funding model and administrative burden and 3) EIT brand name for Master diplomas. Download the position paper.
1) EIT mission, objectives and added value
Enhancing Europe's innovation capacity is the reason the EIT was created. The EIT's specificity is to integrate, at EU level, education and entrepreneurship with research and innovation. EIT and KICs should complement the EU research and innovation landscape. This demonstrates a clear vision on how to enhance the impact of research on Europe's society and economy. The EIT has a landmark contribution to make to the objectives of the EU's strategy for the next decade (EU 2020). The EIT needs to promote and integrate higher education, research and innovation and should strive to the highest quality standards. 
In pursuing its mission, the EIT is to create a tangible impact, notably in terms of new business creation, people with profiles and skills ready to contribute to an ideas economy as well as the generation and dissemination of knowledge. The EIT could also take up an agenda setting responsibility, in particular for issues that hamper innovation. Ultimately, the EIT should contribute to the creation of a culture of innovation. 
The added value of the EIT lies in the fact that the EIT distinguishes itself from other initiatives at European level through a number of specific characteristics. For example, the concept of co-locations in its KICs, the business-like approach to funding and the focus on exploiting new business opportunities. 
2) KICs, funding model and administrative burden.
The bottom-up model of the KIC has been an important asset for the successful formation of the current KICs. This flexibility on the other hand created a relatively long period of negotiations and uncertainty. With the models of the current KICs available, the next generation can build on this experience in order to speed up time to contract and facilitate contract negotiations. 
The smart funding mechanism of the EIT has great potential although the 25% incentive is on the low side and without this budget the continuing a KIC for a long period of time is not perceived to be possible. KICs should use the EIT investment as leverage and work towards financial sustainability building on financial commitment from their own (business) partners. 
The administrative burden should be lowered. Initially the EIT conveyed a message of high trust and simplicity. The EIT appeared to come back from that position and fell back to a rather low-trust approach in which for example detailed questions on time spend by particular persons, including proof, are asked. The EIT should strive for a clear audit guide in which a distinction is made between activities that are funded from the EIT budget or from other sources. 
3) EIT brand name for Master diplomas 
The European Commission has proposed to introduce an EIT label for diplomas awarded by KIC consortia. Similar experiences with the Erasmus Mundus (EM) 'label' (brand name) are positive. The EM brand name contributes to the international visibility of the EM programmes, also after the financing period is over. However, questions may be placed to its functioning as a quality marker. The brand name is awarded to all programmes that received EM funding and is thus connected to the EM indicators (mobility, employability, etc) that are not necessarily synonymous with excellence. Once the funding for these programmes from Brussels have ended, the brand name stays, but the quality of the programme is no longer controlled.