Call for ‘Young Leader’ applications
Imperial College London © anaru

Call for applications for the EIT Foundation ‘Young Leaders Group’

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Foundation is encouraging talented young academics and entrepreneurs to apply to join its ‘Young Leaders Group’, a multidisciplinary training programme that strengthens participants’ innovation and leadership skills. The theme of this year’s programme is ‘Future Learning Environments’.

The ‘Young Leaders Group’ programme brings together 30 young leaders from Europe’s academic, business and entrepreneurial sectors. Drawing on the diversity of their academic, professional and sectorial backgrounds, the young leaders contribute to European innovation by producing recommendations on how to overcome specific innovation challenges facing Europe. They present these recommendations to innovation stakeholders at EU, national and regional levels.

The programme is an opportunity for young academics to challenge their expertise within a dynamic, international, and multidisciplinary setting. They will develop their innovation and leaderships skills and exchange experiences with young leaders from business and entrepreneurship, thereby gaining a practical understanding of these themes. It is also a unique opportunity to meet decision makers and individuals from business and academia, with experience in the fields of innovation, entrepreneurship and education.

Under the headline ‘Future learning environments: Triggering Innovation and Growth’, the Young Leaders Group of 2014 will produce a set of forward-looking recommendations on how new trends can complement and adapt traditional education and training systems, in order to foster European innovation and growth. In smaller working groups, they will address specific challenges within, including educational technology or social learning.

The programme includes a launch meeting at Alcatel-Lucent’s facilities in Antwerp and an ‘autumn academy’ at Imperial College London. It will culminate with the presentation of the group’s recommendations at the EIT Foundation Innovation Forum in January 2015.

The programme launch has been rescheduled for September 2014. The new deadline for applications is 31 May 2014.