Navracsics: EIT “exactly what Europe needs”

The European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport has described the European Institute of Innovation & Technology and its ICT Knowledge and Innovation Community as vitally important to the future of Europe during a visit to Hungary.

Tibor Navracsics made the remarks as he toured the headquarters of the EIT in Budapest and the ICT Labs Associate Partner Group, which is also located in the city. He met young Hungarian and other central-eastern European innovators who benefit from the KIC’s activities.

The Commissioner said: “The EIT and EIT ICT Labs in Budapest offer a unique approach to education that is focused on the development of entrepreneurship and innovation skills, helping to boost innovation in Europe and create new, high quality jobs. This is exactly what Europe needs.”

The EIT ICT Labs Associate Partner Group is a consortium of Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) and their industrial partners. The group aims to increase the development of an innovative ICT ecosystem in central and eastern Europe.

Adding his thoughts during the visit, Martin Kern, EIT interim director, said: “Education is one of the key pillars of our innovation activities. We have developed an education model that is tailored to the needs of the European innovation system and which strongly connects students with business and research.

“The hallmark of EIT educational programmes at Master and PhD levels is not only to educate students to have technical knowledge, but also how to apply this knowledge to solve real life problems, to become more innovative and entrepreneurial.”

Two new KICs are due to be launched next year and will receive funding from Horizon 2020.