Gerard de Nazelle, EIT Director, has decided to leave the EIT as of 1 September 2010 due to personal reasons. He wishes the EIT and the KICs success for the future.

The EIT Governing Board would like to thank Mr de Nazelle for his contribution to the EIT. Dr. Ronald de Bruin (EIT Head of Unit for Operations, Strategy & Communication ) will assume the position of acting Director until a successor is nominated.

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Der Wissenschaftsrat empfiehlt den deutschen Hochschulen, Forschungseinrichtungen und Förderorganisationen, sich für Kooperationen im Europäischen Forschungsraum stärker zu öffnen und ihn prägend mit zu gestalten.

The EIT was represented by Dr Martin Schuurmans who was a panellist in the session "Innovating Industry: building a knowledge-based Economy". Panellists in this interactive session also consisted of Adrian Harris, Director General, Orgalime; Christian Jourquin, CEO, Solvay; Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science and Mark Spelman, Chair, Executive Council AmCham EU .

During the discussion, Dr Schuurmans highlighted that Europe is full of sparkling top quality R&D but that more output measures should be put in place. "The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) aims to produce results and the question that should always be asked is: Does this pay off in terms of new business creation?" Moreover, he emphasised that entrepreneurship education is a priority on the EIT agenda and that leadership is needed both on a European level and on the level of clusters in order to build a true knowledge-based economy.

To read the full press release, please follow this link.

For more information about the European Business Summit, please visit their website.

A short interview with Dr Martin Schuurmans conducted at EBS can be found here.

* Please note that the EIT is not responsible for content of external websites and assumes no responsibility or liability with regard to these.

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The event did not only present EIT stakeholders with their first opportunity to meet the three designated KICs but also allowed them to engage in an open dialogue with them. Four breakout sessions dealt with the key fields addressed by the KICs:

- Addressing societal and economic challenges through the KICs

- Co-location centres as test beds of world-class innovation

- Fostering entrepreneurship and new business creation

- Shaping educational programmes through new partnerships

The KICs used this opportunity to further strengthen links between key higher education, research, business and innovation actors.

Dr. Martin Schuurmans, chairman of the EIT Governing Board, hopes the KICs will also encourage entrepreneurial skills and sensible risk-taking. "We believe they can be icebreakers in advancing new ways of thinking and working together for the benefit of a more innovative and entrepreneurial Europe," he said.

Please find here Dr. Schuurmans' keynote speech: 'What the EIT wants to accomplish'

Please find here the final version of the agenda of the KIC launch conference.

For a detailed version of the conference agenda as well as the speakers' profiles and presentations, please click here.

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