'Launching the KICs - Delivering new solutions to the European innovation landscape'

The event celebrated an important milestone for the EIT: the designation of its first three Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) in December 2009, namely Climate-KIC, EIT ICT Labs and KIC InnoEnergy. The conference not only aimed to celebrate the official launch of the KICs but also aimed to enable participants to draw initial lessons from their set-up process.

Please find here the report of the KIC launch conference.

Listed below are the conference agenda as well as the speakers' profiles and presentations.

2 June 2010

Opening Session

▪ 'Setting the scene': Dr. Martin Schuurmans (Chairman of the EIT Governing Board)

▪ 'An EIT perspective – exploring innovative ways of collaborating': Prof. Manuel Castells (Member of the EIT Governing Board)

▪ 'A European perspective':

- 'An Innovation Union': Jean-Noël Durvy (Director for Innovation Policy, Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry, European Commission)

- 'European Research Area - a framework for the future': Theodius Lennon (Director, Directorate General for Research, European Commission)

- 'A Spanish Presidency perspective - the future of the innovation landscape': Juan Tomás Hernani (Spanish Secretary General for Innovation)

- 'Catalonia – an innovative European region': Josep Huguet (Catalan Minister of Innovation, Universities and Enterprise)

3 June 2010

Introductory Session

▪ Androulla Vassiliou (Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth): speech

▪ Herbert Reul (MEP, Chair of the Industry, Research and Energy Committee of the European Parliament)

▪ Felipe Pétriz Calvo (Spanish Secretary of State of Research)

Keynote Speech: What the EIT wants to accomplish

Dr Martin Schuurmans (Chairman of the EIT Governing Board): presentation

KICs' presentations: KICs at a glance

▪ Climate-KIC: Prof. Bert van der Zwaan (Climate-KIC Coordinator): presentation

▪ EIT ICT Labs: Prof. Gunnar Landgren (EIT ICT Labs Interim CEO): presentation

▪ KIC InnoEnergy: Prof. Hans-Jörg Bauer (KIC InnoEnergy Coordinator): presentation

Breakout session I: Addressing societal and economic challenges through the KICs

Breakout session - discussion paper

▪ Scene-setter: Dr. Karen Maex (Member of the EIT Governing Board)

▪ Challenger: Prof. André Sapir (Professor of Economics - Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management, ULB, and Senior Fellow - BRUEGEL)

▪ Representatives of:

- Climate-KIC: Jan van der Eijk (Climate-KIC CEO)

- EIT ICT Labs: Prof. Michel Cosnard (President-General Director of Inria)

- KIC InnoEnergy: Yves Fanjas (Deputy Vice President Research and Innovation of AREVA)

Breakout session II: Co-location centres as test beds of world-class innovation

Breakout session - discussion paper

▪ Scene-setter: Prof. Julia King (Member of the EIT Governing Board): presentation

▪ Challenger: Diogo Vasconcelos (Distinguished Fellow - CISCO Systems International)

▪ Representatives of:

- Climate-KIC: Jon Bloomfield (Head of European Policy at Advantage West Midlands)

- EIT ICT Labs: Prof. Tatu Koljonen (Vice President Strategic Research of VTT, Finland: Co-location centres

- KIC InnoEnergy: Prof. Dr. Hans-Jörg Bauer (Head of Institute of Thermal Turbomachines at KIT): Co-location centres

Breakout session III: Fostering entrepreneurship and new business creation

Breakout session - discussion paper

▪ Scene-setter: Dr. Bertrand Collomb (Member of the EIT Governing Board)

▪ Challenger: Prof. Kenneth Morse (Visiting professor at ESADE Business School; Chair in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Competitiveness at DUT and founding MD of MIT Entrepreneurship Centre)

▪ Representatives of:

- Climate-KIC: Prof. Peter Chen (Professor of Physical-Organic Chemistry at ETH Zürich): presentation

- EIT ICT Labs: Dr. Udo Bub (Vice President Innovation Development Laboratory of Deutsche Telekom): presentation

- KIC InnoEnergy: Elena Bou (Associate Professor of the Department of Operations Management): presentation

Breakout session IV: Shaping educational programmes through new partnerships

Breakout session - discussion paper

▪ Scene-setter: Prof. Anders Flodström (Member of the EIT Executive Committee)

▪ Challenger: Prof. Frans van Vught (President of the European Center for Strategic Management of Universities (Esmu) and member of the European Commission’s Group of Societal Policy Advisors)

▪ Representatives of:

- Climate-KIC: Prof. Richard Templer (Hofmann Professor of Chemistry - Imperial College London)

- EIT ICT Labs: Prof. Peter Apers (Director of 3TU NIRICT)

- KIC InnoEnergy: Prof. Ramon Wyss (Vice President International Affairs at Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan; Secretary General CLUSTER network)

Panel discussion - Participation in the KICs: Fully exploiting opportunities

Panel - discussion paper

▪ Doug Richard (founder of the School for Startups)

▪ Prof. Alfons Sauquet (Dean of ESADE Business School)

▪ Dr Jan J.H. van den Biesen (Vice President Public R&D Programmes of Philips Research)

▪ Dr Vivek Tandon (founder of Aloe Private Equity)

▪ Moderator: Paul Hofheinz (President of the Lisbon Council)

Wrap up - First learning from the KICs

▪Gérard de Nazelle - EIT Director (moderator) and Breakout session 'challengers':

- Session I:Dr. Karen Maex (Member of the EIT Governing Board)

Key outcomes of session I

- Session II:Diogo Vasconcelos (Distinguished Fellow - CISCO Systems International)

Key outcomes of session II

- Session III:Prof. Kenneth Morse (Visiting professor at ESADE Business School; Chair in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Competitiveness at DUT and founding MD of MIT Entrepreneurship Centre)

Key outcomes of session III

- Session IV:Prof. Frans van Vught (President of the European Center for Strategic Management of Universities (Esmu) and member of the European Commission’s Group of Societal Policy Advisors)

Key outcomes of session IV

Concluding remarks

▪ Jan Truszczyński (Director General for DG Education and Culture, European Commission)

▪ Dr. Alexander von Gabain (Member of the EIT Governing Board): 'The next steps in integrating the knowledge triangle and energising the EIT'