IP/09/1950 Budapest, den 16. december 2009 Det Europæiske Institut for Innovation og Teknologi (EIT) lancerer de første tre videns- og innovationsfællesskaber ("VIF’er") Det Europæiske Institut for Innovation og Teknologi (EIT) bekendtgjorde i dag lanceringen af de første tre videns- og informationsfællesskaber. VIF'er er højt integrerede partnerskaber, der sammenfører højere uddannelser på ekspertniveau, forskning og erhvervsliv omkring emnerne tilpasning til og afbødning af klimaændring ("klima-VIF"), bæredygtig energiforsyning ("InnoEnergy-VIF") og fremtidens kommunikations- og informationssamfund ("EIT IKT Labs"). Lanceringen af VIF'erne er et vigtigt skridt i oprettelsen af EIT, som skal være forbillede, når det gælder om at styrke innovationen i Europa og dermed bidrage til gennemførelsen af målene i den fremtidige EU 2020-strategi. José Manuel Barroso, Europa-Kommissionens formand, bød beslutningen velkommen med ordene: "Udvælgelsen af de første videns- og innovationsfællesskaber er endnu en milepæl på vejen til et mere innovativt Europa. Jeg glæder mig til, at VIF'erne bliver innovationshotspots, som kan tiltrække de mest lovende talenter fra Europa og den øvrige verden. Videns- og informationssamfundene bør kunne udvikle sig til steder, "hvor tingene sker", for de studerende, forskere og iværksættere, der ønsker at samarbejde om områder af stor betydning for vores fælles fremtid." Maroš Šef čovič, kommissær for uddannelse, kultur og ungdom, udtalte: "VIF'erne vil hjælpe til med at slå bro over de kløfter, der alt for ofte forhindrer et effektivt samarbejde inden for videnstrekanten mellem højere uddannelse, forskning og innovation. Jeg har tiltro til, at EIT vil hjælpe til med at inspirere til et holdningsskift, til at øge paratheden over for videnssamfundet og til at skabe et miljø, hvor nye ideer kan finde grobund." De udvalgte videns- og informationssamfund er valgt blandt 20 forslag, der er indgivet som svar på EIT's første indkaldelse af forslag vedrørende VIF'er tidligere på året. Indkaldelsen, som var åben fra 2. april til 27. august 2009, dækkede følgende tre prioriterede områder: bæredygtig energi, tilpasning til og afbødning af klimaændring, fremtidens kommunikations- og informationssamfund. Det var op til VIF-forslagsstillerne at definere deres egne aktivitetsområder inden for disse prioriterede områder. Efter en evaluering foretaget af uafhængige eksperter blev forslagsstillerne bag de to højst rangerende forslag fra hvert prioriteret område i dag, den 16. december, indbudt til høring, hvorefter den endelige beslutning blev taget. " De vigtigste kriterier, der lå til grund for vores beslutning, var lederskab og ekspertise . Fra bestyrelsens side har vi været yderst tilfredse med reaktionerne på indkaldelsen vedrørende VIF'er, idet de har påvist et stort engagement fra alle interesserede parters side ", sagde Martin Schuurmans, formand for EIT's uafhængige bestyrelse. " VIF'erne er prøvebænke for innovation, og det er vores ønske, at de udvikler sig til effektive værktøjer med hensyn til oprettelse af nye virksomheder, iværksætteruddannelse og samfundsmæssige fordele . På nuværende tidspunkt er EIT's vigtigste opgave at få sat skub i VIF'erne inden sommer til næste år." For at fremme en hurtig og gnidningsfri start vil EIT med det samme tilføre VIF'erne et starttilskud på samlet 3 mio. EUR. VIF'erne forventes at være fuldt operationelle kort tid efter, at den syvårige partnerskabsrammeaftale med EIT er underskrevet, og de første årlige tilskud er godkendt medio 2010. Bilaget indeholder en kortfattet beskrivelse af de udvalgte VIF'er. EIT's websted: 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