EU to set up a European Institute of Technology

A new European Institute of Technology (EIT), which would be a centre of excellence in higher education, research and innovation, has been proposed by the EU exective arm, the European Commission as part of the “Lisbon strategy” to raise the EU’s competitiveness and promote jobs.

The Commission has based its work on the results of a wide public consultation collecting more than 700 contributions.

‘’Excellence needs flagships: that’s why Europe must have a strong European Institute of Technology, bringing together the best brains and companies and disseminating the results throughout Europe’’ said José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission.

The European Institute of Technology will concentrate, in particular, on combining “the three sides of the knowledge triangle”: education, research and innovation.

The EIT’s structure would be based on two levels: a small administrative level and a set of “knowledge communities”, distributed all over Europe.

They would carry out the activities in strategic trans-disciplinary areas.

The EIT is expected to receive funding from a variety of sources including the EU, the Member States and the business community.

The aim is that the most talented students, researchers and staff will work side by side with leading businesses in the development and exploitation of cutting-edge knowledge and research, thereby enhancing research and innovation management skills generally.

The integration of teams from universities, research centres and companies will give it an edge over traditionally organised universities or networks.