IP/09/1950 Budimpešta, 16. decembra 2009 Evropski inštitut za inovacije in tehnologijo (EIT) objavil prve tri Skupnosti znanja in inovacij Evropski inštitut za inovacije in tehnologijo (EIT) je danes objavil prve tri Skupnosti znanja in inovacij (SZI). SZI so visoko integrirana partnerstva, ki združujejo odlične visokošolske ustanove, raziskovalne centre in podjetja na področjih ublažitve podnebnih sprememb in prilagajanja nanje (SZI „Climate“), trajnostne energije (SZI „InnoEnergy“) ter prihodnje informacijske in komunikacijske družbe („EIT ICT Labs“). Ustanovitev SZI je ključen korak pri vzpostavljanju EIT, ki naj bi postal vzor za pospeševanje inovacij v Evropi in s tem prispeval k izpolnitvi ciljev prihodnje strategije EU 2020. Predsednik Evropske komisije José Manuel Barroso je pozdravil to odločitev: „Izbor prvih skupnosti znanja in inovacij je pomemben mejnik na poti k inovativnejši Evropi. Veselim se dneva, ko bodo SZI postale valilnice inovacij, ki bodo pritegnile najbolj nadarjene iz Evrope in drugod. Razviti se morajo v najbolj zaželena okolja za študente, raziskovalce in podjetnike, ki si želijo sodelovanja na področjih, pomembnih za našo skupno prihodnost.“ Maroš Šefčovič, komisar za izobraževanje, usposabljanje, kulturo in mlade, je poudaril: „Skupnosti znanja in inovacij bodo omogočile premostitev prepada, ki še vedno ovira učinkovito sodelovanje v t. i. trikotniku znanja, ki zajema izobraževanje, raziskave in inovacije. Prepričan sem, da bo EIT spodbudil spremembo v načinu razmišljanja, da bomo pripravljeni na družbo znanja, in ustvaril okolje, v katerem lahko uspevajo nove ideje.“ Objavljene skupnosti so bile izbrane izmed 20 predlogov, poslanih na prvi razpis EIT za SZI. Razpis, na katerega se je bilo mogoče prijaviti med 2. aprilom in 27. avgustom 2009, je bil zasnovan za tri prednostna področja: ublažitev podnebnih sprememb in prilagajanje nanje, trajnostna energija ter prihodnja informacijska in komunikacijska družba. Prijavitelji na razpis so morali svoje področje dejavnosti opredeliti v okviru navedenih področij. Potem ko so vloge ocenili neodvisni strokovnjaki, so bili prijavitelji dveh najbolje ocenjenih predlogov za vsako od prednostnih področij danes povabljeni na razgovor z upravnim odborom, ki je nato sprejel končno odločitev. „Glavni merili za našo odločitev sta bili vodilna vloga in odličnost. V upravnem odboru smo bili prijetno presenečeni nad odzivom na razpis za SZI, ki je pokazal visoko raven zavezanosti vseh zainteresiranih strani,“ je dejal Martin Schuurmans, predsednik neodvisnega upravnega odbora EIT. „SZI so preskusno okolje za inovacije in od njih pričakujemo dejanski učinek, zlasti na nastajanje novih podjetij, podjetniško izobraževanje in koristi za družbo. Zdaj je glavna naloga EIT, da do sredine naslednjega leta zagotovi delovanje SZI.“ EIT bo za hiter in neoviran začetek delovanja skupnostim zagotovil začetna sredstva v skupni višini treh milijonov evrov. SZI naj bi bile popolnoma delujoče kmalu po podpisu sedemletnega okvirnega partnerskega sporazuma z EIT in po potrditvi sporazumov o prvih letnih donacijah sredi leta 2010. V dodatku je kratek opis izbranih SZI. Spletišče EIT: http://eit.europa.eu Appendix: Summaries of the selected Knowledge and Innovation Communities Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Climate-KIC Concept Addressing climate change requires a huge transformation of the global economy. Climate-KIC's mission is to accelerate and stimulate the innovation for this transformation and ensure benefits for Europe. The KIC will achieve this by creating a community with world-renowned innovation capability and climate change knowledge. By 2014, it will be the natural place for companies to locate climate R&D centres, top students to look for climate education, researchers to look for inspiration and policy makers to seek advice. It will have created significant industrial value and high-skill jobs for Europe and built the critical mass to be self-sustaining. Focus Climate-KIC will initially focus on achieving excellence in four areas: assessing climate change & managing its drivers, transitioning to low-carbon resilient cities, adaptive water management and zero carbon production. These fields were selected for their mitigation-adaptation potential as well as innovation and job creation opportunities. Structural elements The four areas will form the core structural elements, each with a world-renowned lead responsible for the entire chain from education to commercialisation. Work will be embedded in five co-locations responsible for creating local innovation ecosystems to drive entrepreneurship and venture creation, whilst linking into a network of implementation sites. The core partners consist of major companies, academic institutions and regional agencies that have the strength to make the KIC a success. A joint not-for-profit entity will ensure effective governance. Co-location centres: London, Zürich, Berlin metropolitan area, Paris metropolitan area, Randstad metropolitan area Sustainable Energy KIC InnoEnergy Concept InnoEnergy is a strongly integrated alliance of reputable players from the education, research and industry sectors. It was created based on long standing links of cooperation as well as the principles of excellence and transformation. The partners have jointly developed a strategy to tackle the weaknesses of the European innovation landscape and aim to be the leading motor for innovation in the field of sustainable energy. Focus The KIC will create economical and societal value by developing ideas from mind to market. Achieving this aim entails the training of technology leaders with an entrepreneurial mindset as well as connecting key players across the innovation chain through projects, platforms and events. State-of-the-art innovation and entrepreneurial support will be offered and continuously improved. The structural and systemic concept of the partnership will pave the way to a paradigm shift in innovation networks and cooperation. The adopted technological approach covers the most challenging areas of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) and addresses the transition of the system as a whole. The IPR policy and precise support measures provide incentives for the exploitation of research results. In addition, the holistic concepts of education, innovation and technology ensure the integration of the knowledge triangle. Structural elements InnoEnergy will systematically produce innovation by creating critical mass and integrating different actors of the knowledge triangle in a sustainable and structured manner. To achieve this, InnoEnergy will be organised and managed as a business. Its installation as a European Company (SE) provides stability and creates self-reinforcing mechanisms leading to sustainability. The managerial processes and mechanisms employed will assure the development of the alliance. Strong commitment of its complementary partners reflected in the jointly developed strategy and the dedicated resources is the key to success of InnoEnergy. Co-location centres: CC Germany: Karlsruhe, CC Alps Valleys: Grenoble, CC Benelux: Eindhoven/Leuven, CC Iberia: Barcelona, CC PolandPlus: Krakow, CC Sweden: Stockholm Future Information and Communication Society EIT ICT Labs Concept EIT ICT Labs, the KIC for the future information and communication society, aims at radical transformation of Europe into a knowledge society with an unprecedented proliferation of internet-based services. It will establish a new partnership between business and academia based on trust, transparency and mobility of ideas and people. The consortium connects world leading companies, globally renowned research institutes and top-ranked universities all dedicated to speeding up innovation to address grand challenges of our society. Committed to an efficient open innovation model, EIT ICT Labs will generate faster transformation of ideas and ICT technologies into real products, services and business, boosting Europe’s future competitiveness in all sectors of society. Focus EIT ICT Labs will equip students, researchers and business people with skills and inspiration for creativity, risk taking and entrepreneurship. By re-aligning the activities in the European Higher Education Area, the European Research Area and high growth ICT companies the EIT ICT Labs will leverage regional, national, and EU level funding instruments. EIT ICT Labs will foster international top talent and involve under-utilised innovation and entrepreneurial resources such as non-core IPR, women, students, and cost-driven innovations for the next billion users. Committed to an open innovation approach, the EIT ICT Labs will catalyse the creation of strong ventures and help them to grow to become the future world leaders in the ICT arena. Structural elements EIT ICT Labs will build upon five co-location centres – Berlin, Eindhoven, Helsinki, Paris, and Stockholm – and turn these excellent clusters and their partners into a world-class network of innovation hotspots. The consortium covers the entire value chain in the ICT sector, thereby facilitating the capture of new business opportunities in the dynamic ICT sector. Cohesion and efficiency will be achieved by combining strong CEO-type management and clear IPR policies for open innovation with the agility of bottom-up initiatives provided by an extensive network of local and international innovation partners. Co-location centres: Berlin, Eindhoven, Helsinki, Paris and Stockholm