EIT board makes case for continued existence in FP10

The governing board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has promised to reduce the administrative burden of participation in its activities, as it makes its pitch for continued funding in Framework Programme 10, due to begin in 2028.

In its Vision for a Competitive Europe, published on February 26, the EIT board says the agency should be allowed to “continue its core mission of building thematic ecosystems dedicated to solving global challenges” in FP10.

According to Stefan Dobrev, chair of the EIT governing, the EIT is needed more than ever now that the European Commission has placed innovation at the heart of its competitiveness agenda. 

“The EIT should be dedicated to sourcing the most promising European ideas, funnelling a pipeline of sustainable innovations and start-ups to some of Europe’s most pressing challenges, and nurturing the skills needed for Europe’s future,” he said in a statement.

This robust defence follows calls last year from the Danish and Latvian governments for the EIT’s funding to be discontinued in FP10, and for its activities to be absorbed by programmes with overlapping remits, such as the European Innovation Council and Erasmus+.

More recently, the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy called for the EIT to be “reformed and refocussed” in the planning of FP10. While the MEPs acknowledged the EIT’s positive contribution to closing the skills gap and the innovation divide within Europe, they called for more synergies with other parts of the Framework Programme and reduced bureaucracy. 

“For many stakeholders the financial and other costs, including the high burden of participating in a KIC [the EIT’s knowledge and innovation communities], outweigh the benefits of the relatively little funding support relevant for them,” their report concludes.

In an attempt to address these concerns, the EIT board proposes strengthening synergies between research and innovation instruments and the development a “common framework” for all their activities, forming a pipeline of support across three stages of R&D.

The first stage would cover the generation of ideas and excellent research, through the European Research Council, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Erasmus+ and European University alliances. 

A second stage on knowledge valorisation, start-up creation, and skills would include the EIT and the European Partnerships. 

A final stage, dedicated to scale-up and growth, would include the European Innovation Council and the European Investment Bank Group.

“Based on stakeholder feedback, this will require important simplification of operations for the EIT and KICs so that the administrative burden to participate in its activities are minimised and so that shared services within and across programmes can be strongly enhanced,” the governing board says, promising to come forward with concrete measures in this direction.

New KICs

The board also makes the case for maintaining the EIT’s central organisation, which is headquartered in Budapest. It argues that the EIT is efficient, using only 2.5% of its budget for the programme’s administration, while the financial independence of the first three KICs “would not have been possible without the board’s strategic guidance and the unique model developed and implemented by the EIT.”

The KICs are required to attract private investment and become financially self-sufficient after 15 years operation, a landmark passed by EIT Digital, the EIT Climate-KIC and EIT InnoEnergy in January 2025.

In addition to a tenth KIC, around water-based innovation, which is already in the works, the board suggests five areas where the EIT could support European competitiveness through new KICs. These are: security and resilience; AI and robotics; space and aerospace; rural innovation; and bio-based industry.

Meanwhile, the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme, which helps innovators in less developed regions of Europe to access EIT activities, should be refocused and rebranded. Instead of aiming for increased EIT participation it should support early-stage start-ups, “steering their growth” towards future support from the European Innovation Council, European Investment Fund and other public and private investors.

Finally, the board suggests consolidating the EIT’s numerous education and skilling programmes into a single EIT Innovation Campus.