European Institute of Technology appoints first director

As EIT Director de Nazelle will play a key role in setting up the EIT and its Knowledge and Innovation Communities, and the daily management of the Institute. The most immediate task in hand is to establish the EIT Headquarters in Budapest, Hungary, and get the Institute on an operational footing.

Ján Figel', Commissioner for Education, Culture, Training and Youth under whose portfolio the EIT has been set up, welcomed the appointment, calling it “another major step towards a fully effective EIT”.

“Setting up the EIT has been extremely smooth and speedy so far, showing European citizens and economy that the EU is very much committed to making Europe an innovative and entrepreneurial place to be,” said Figel'.

Martin Schuurmans, Chairman of the EIT Governing Board, said the appointment comes at a crucial juncture. Between now and the end of 2009, the first two or three Knowledge and Innovation Communities will be selected. “Putting in place the EIT headquarters core team will be a crucial factor for the KICs’ [Knowledge and Innovation Communities] successful phasing-in and operation. I am confident that under the leadership of Mr de Nazelle we will establish a modern, flexible and service-oriented support structure in Budapest.”

While the governing board of the EIT takes the strategic decisions regarding objectives and actions, the Director is responsible for the day-to-day management.

An engineering graduate of ENSIC in France, de Nazelle obtained a PhD in Physics from the Delft University of Technology. He joined Shell in 1990, where he first worked in technology development. In 1994, he moved to Japan, then to Singapore, where he was involved in the construction and start-up of two large petrochemical projects. He held the position of Technology Manager of Shell Seraya in Singapore, before becoming Chief Technologist of the multi-billion CNOOC-Shell project in China from 2004-2007.