Exclusive: Can Europe bridge the gap between academia and business?

When it comes to relations between higher education and the world of business there's no competition. The US gets it. Europe doesn't. But that's about to change, says Jan Figel, the European commissioner for education in an exclusive interview with Science-Business.

Generally speaking European universities have until now viewed the world of business with mistrust, he said. "There's been a fear that collaborating with firms results in the loss of values in education, but in the past year or so we have started to move away from that. Trust is growing. We are seeing an increasing commitment on both sides to work together," Figel said.

Last week the European Commission hosted a two-day conference focused on building links between the two worlds. A similar event took place a year ago, and while it didn't produce much in the way of concrete results, Figel says that it did illustrate a new willingness to collaborate.

"Last year's event attracted more than twice the number of attendees we expected," he said. The discussion focused on the creation of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT), which was the subject of a heated political debate at the time.

This time delegates, including high ranking company executives and university rectors and chancellors, will discuss nitty-gritty issues such as university governance, curriculum development and the teaching of entrepreneurship.

Their conclusions will feed into a policy document the Commission will publish in April. "Our communication will focus on areas where the two should work together: for example, modernizing of universities, [and] improving entrepreneurial education, which is still is very weak in Europe," he said.

Commission policy statements are designed to steer the member states of the EU, but they lack any legal weight. At best they help shape national policies, at worst they are filed away and gather virtual dust on a Commission database somewhere.

The proof of the pudding is in the EIT

The EIT, on the other hand, has the full weight of the law behind it. The idea that all EU member states signed up to last summer is to create an Ivy League of research and education centres around Europe, employing the finest minds to tackle the most pressing problems faced by society today. The plan is for business and academia to work together not only in the lab, but also in converting scientific breakthroughs into commercial reality.

The real test of the new, more trusting relationship between academia and business that Figel speaks of will come when the EIT unveils its first knowledge and innovation communities (KICs) at the end of this year. The commissioner says companies have shown a keen interest. Executives have been flying in from various different continents for seminars and meetings about the EIT, but none has made a commitment to date.

It's too early to say whether the traditional obstacles to cooperation between business and academia have been overcome in Europe, as Figel claims, but this time next year we'll know for sure.