EIT projects finally get their annual grants

The European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) has finally signed the first contracts with one of its Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), a year after the flagship innovation projects were announced.

EIT ICT Labs, the KIC that will focus on the future information and communication technology, was the first to secure the agreements, after negotiations dragged for months, held back by Commission bureaucracy and the time taken for the KICs to decide on the what legal form to adopt.

The seven-year framework partnership and the annual grant agreements were signed this week by EIT ICT Labs CEO Willem Jonker, who assumed his new role in September, and Ronald De Bruin, acting director of the EIT following Gerard de Nazelle’s resignation in July, just a few months into the job.

The agreements with InnoEnergy, the KIC focussed on sustainable energy, are due to be signed tomorrow (17 December). The final set of agreements, for Climate-KIC, which will deal with climate change, is scheduled to be signed in January. The aim of the KICs is to forge new ways for industry and academe to work together in cross-border projects.

Delays blamed on red tape

The delay lead some people involved in the KICs to question whether the instruments the Commission has at its disposal are suitable for reaching the KICs’ goals quickly and efficiently. 

“Maybe the type of contracts the EIT has with the Commission might not be the most suitable ones for the way the KICs need to work. It’s a bit too bureaucratic,” said Greet Vink of Delft University of Technology, who is involved in the climate change KIC. “With the Commission, everything has to be controlled, checked and double-checked. We understand their position as it’s taxpayers’ money, but the KICs are trying to generate new innovation and new business, and this requires a flexible way of operating.” 

Vink said despite the delays, “The spirit is there to get things moving within the Climate-KIC and fresh and new innovative ideas and education programmes are being developed and implemented.”

However, this is not the first delay in getting the money flowing, with the initial €1 million grants for each KIC also arriving behind schedule earlier this year. At the time the chairman of the EIT’s governing board, Martin Schuurmans, put this down to the EIT finding its feet and getting organised. In a March 4 interview with Science|Business, Schuurmans said that the complexity of the Commission rules - by which the EIT is bound - “was maybe underestimated” and that he hoped the signing of the annual grant, due by the summer, would be “done a bit more smoothly.”

Caroline Vandenplas, EIT communication officer at its headquarters in Budapest, claimed the delays in signing the seven year partnership framework and the annual grants were to be expected. “Considering that these agreements follow a totally new approach, it has still been a fairly speedy process. It’s a challenging process. There are lots of steps involved and each step took longer than expected,” Vandenplas said, adding, “It’s taxpayers’ money so we still have to follow some procedures. Some things can’t change from one day to another.”

The EIT is contributing up to 25 per cent of the total cost of each project, meaning the delay in releasing the annual grants hasn’t prevented the KICs from starting operations, using their own resources with the promise of reimbursement.

Building something new

Hans-Joerg Bauer, acting CEO of InnoEnergy until September, said InnoEnergy had been implementing its business plan since the middle of the year, simply footing the bill itself with the promise of reimbursement once the grants have been approved. “There were bureaucratic problems and some tough negotiations for example on liability, but the annual grants are now in the process of being signed,” Bauer said.

InnoEnergy’s current CEO Diego Pavia told Science|Business, “These are the rules of the game. If you want to play the game, you have to follow the rules.” He was also keen to emphasise that the delays were not so surprising, “We are building something new” and “everyone is learning,” he said. 

The three KICs have had to pioneer a legal structure that will fit with the brief of co-locating their activities in several countries. Last week InnoEnergy was incorporated as a Societas Europaea (European Company), headquartered in the Netherlands. Climate-KIC is a ‘stichting’ under Dutch law, which is roughly comparable to a non-profit foundation, according to its co-location director Frans Nauta. Meanwhile, EIT ICT Labs is a not-for-profit association founded in Belgium in October.

The CEOs of the KICs are now in place. Jan Van der Eijk took on the role at Climate-KIC earlier in the year, and Willem Jonker and Diego Pavia assumed their CEO positions for EIT ICT Labs and InnoEnergy, respectively, as of September.

Management at the EIT itself had a few wobbles mid-year with the resignation of de Nazelle, its Director. He cited personal reasons for his departure, which took effect on August 31. A job advertisement has been placed to fill the position, Vandenplas said.