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A new chapter begins for the EIT

In the context of welcoming the EIT’s second Governing Board to the EIT and its activities, a very intense workshop took place on 18 and 19 of September in Budapest, home of the Institute’s Headquarters.

Following the appointment of 12 new Board members by the European Commission in July 2012, the second EIT Governing Board gathered for its first meeting last week. In order to present the Institute’s activities, the three current KICs were invited to update the audience on their progress and achievements to date. Climate-KIC and EIT ICT Labs were represented by their CEOs, Mary Ritter and Willem Jonker and Diego Pavia (CEO) and Karl-Friedrich Ziegahn (Chairman of the Supervisory Board) represented KIC InnoEnergy.
A lively discussion with external experts followed the presentation of the KICs’ highlights and focused on the integration of the EIT’s three pillars: education, business and research. Jens Rostrup-Nielsen (Member ERC Scientific Council) and Linnar Viik (EIT Governing Board) led the discussion on the importance of scientific excellence and innovation from a global perspective, Mel Horwitch (Dean CEU Business School) and Karen Maex (EIT Governing Board) highlighted the EIT’s pertinent role iin education for entrepreneurship and innovation whilst Richard Straub (Drucker Society) and Daria Golebiowska Tataj focused on challenges in entrepreneurship.
Together with the remaining six Governing Board members, including the Chairman of the EIT Governing Board, Alexander von Gabain, the Governing Board together with the EIT Director José Manuel Leceta, also began discussing the EIT’s planned activities for 2013 and 2014.

The upcoming years are crucial for the EIT: we have to consolidate our current three KICs as well as prepare for more KICs joining the family so I am very pleased that the EIT’s second Governing Board has kicked off with such fruitful, dynamic and engaged discussions. Alexander von Gabain

The 12 new appointed EIT Governing Board members are: Gabor Bojar, María Garaña, Dr Ulf Johansson, Elpida Keravnou-Papailiou , Dr Jana Kolar, Prof. Marja Makarow, Prof. Peter Olesen , Dr Patrick Prendergast, Bruno Revellin-Falcoz, Gianfelice Rocca, Prof. Nigel Thrift and Jeroen Van Der Veer. For a complete overview of the EIT Governing Board, please meet them here.