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Selection of 12 new members of the EIT Governing Board Deadline: 16 April

News
20/02/2012

The EIT is pleased to announce that the call for expression of interest for 12 new appointed members of the EIT Governing Board has been launched. The EIT Governing Board is the institute’s principal governing body entrusted with providing the strategic leadership of the EIT and is independent and autonomous in its decision-making.

To lead this process, the EIT Governing Board (GB) has appointed a Steering Committee that is responsible for identifying a list of potential candidates that will be submitted by the EIT Governing Board to the European Commission. This Steering Committee will guarantee the independence, legitimacy and credibility of the selection process. Starting in February 2012, the work of the identification Committee is expected to take approximately five months.

The Steering Committee is composed of four out of the twelve outgoing GB members:

  • Bertrand Collomb, Honorary Chairman, Lafarge; Institut des Hautes Etudes pour la Science et la Technologie (IHEST)
  • Giovanni Colombo, Adjunct Professor, Politecnico di Torino, Former CTO, Telecom Italia LAB and Head of long-term research, Telecom Italia
  • Anders Flodström, Former University Chancellor, Swedish National Agency for Higher Education
  • Julia King, Vice-Chancellor, Aston University, Professor of Materials Engineering, Former Director of Engineering, Marine Business, Rolls-Royce plc

The selection process for the identification of the twelve new appointed EIT GB members consists of a call for expression of interest. The Steering Committee will prepare a list of individuals to be proposed as members of the future EIT Governing Board. The GB will formally transmit the shortlist to the European Commission for the formal appointment of the twelve new EIT Governing Board members. On the basis of this proposal, the Commission will send a report summarising the selection process and its results to the Council and the European Parliament, who have a period of one month to take cognisance of the outcome of the selection process. The twelve members of the Governing Board will then be nominated based on a Commission Decision by the end of July 2012.

How to apply to the call for expression of interest?

This is outlined in the call for expression of interest.

Deadline: 16 April at 24:00 CET

Background

In accordance with the EIT Regulation, 12 members appointed to the EIT Governing Board in 2008 have a four year mandate coming to an end on 31 July 2012 and as such, this call for expression of interest will aim to identify future candidates for the EIT Governing Board. The newly appointed GB members will join the six appointed EIT Governing Board members with a six year mandate (until 31 July 2014) and four representative members.

The Governing Board is the EIT’s principal body entrusted with providing the strategic leadership of the Institute. It is independent and autonomous in its decision-making and in particular is responsible for the selection, designation and evaluation of the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs).

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is an independent body of the European Union, set up in 2008. The EIT aims to give Europe’s innovation capacity a much needed boost and its overall goal is to create a new European way of delivering essential economic growth and societal benefits through innovation by helping transform innovative ideas into products and services that create sustainable growth and jobs.

The EIT primarily operates by Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), which are the operational base of the EIT. The KICs are excellence-driven partnerships, which bring together the whole innovation web in order to offer new opportunities for innovation in Europe and generate real impact in terms of new business creation and societal benefits. The KICs enable top-class European education, research and business hotspots to form entrepreneurial and excellence driven innovation factories. They address focused innovation topics and integrate public and private research organisations, innovative industries, higher education institutions, investors, start-ups and spin-offs.