Europe mulls its own MIT
The EIT is not a new idea and proponents of the Lisbon Strategy have long advocated the creation of a university-style research body that would be a global leader in innovation and attract the world's top minds, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Warsaw was even floated as a possible location for such an institution earlier this year.
The public consultation will gather the views of stakeholders on how an EIT could strengthen research, education and market innovation in Europe.
The public consultation will run until mid-November, and will feed into a wider analysis by the European Commission services.
Europe is falling behind the US and China when it comes to 'new knowledge' - the global share of patents awarded to EU firms is falling and North America and Asia are much more successful at forging industry-wide partnerships. The EU views technological advances and the application of high-level scientific research as crucial drivers of economic growth and employment, but to date the EU has not translated its innovation successes into a competitive economic advantage. "A European Institute of Technology could play an innovative role in supporting knowledge transfer, attracting the best researchers and companies from around the world to work in partnership," says Ján Figel, the European Commissioner in charge of Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism.
The European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso, said: "Together we need to strengthen Europe's potential in research and technology, by stimulating research careers, by encouraging European researchers to stay in Europe and by attracting the best brains from around the world to Europe."
The Commission is now asking the public to decide on the project's 'first order' issues, including: the EIT's key missions, objectives, added-value and possible structure. An online questionnaire, available at http://europa.eu.int/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=EIT, asks for views on how the EIT could best organize its activities in order to support innovation and the transfer of knowledge throughout the EU.
