The EIT and the integration of the knowledge triangle: bringing together research, business and education

We had a conversation with Michal Gorzynski, Head of Section Impact of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. Mr Gorzynski sheds some light on the many projects EIT is running, explains the present and future of their initiatives to foster innovation -especially among SMEs- and how their Knowledge & Innovation Communities and the collaboration with the EUIPO is giving already results.

For those unfamiliar with the EIT or the Knowledge & Innovation Communities initiatives (KICS), could you explain briefly how the KICs are organised and how they provide support for innovation?

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is Europe’s largest and most experienced innovation ecosystem. The EIT strengthens Europe’s ability to innovate by powering solutions to pressing global challenges and by nurturing entrepreneurial talent to create sustainable growth and skilled jobs in Europe. The EIT is an EU body and an integral part of Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.

The Institute supports dynamic pan-European partnerships, EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities, among leading companies, research labs and universities. Currently, there are eight EIT Knowledge & Innovation Communities, or KICs as we call them. These are: EIT Climate-KIC, EIT Digital, EIT InnoEnergy, EIT Health, EIT RawMaterials, EIT Food, EIT Manufacturing & EIT Urban Mobility. We are excited to be launching a ninth KIC centred around Europe’s vibrant Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries, EIT Culture & Creativity.

Together with their leading partners, the EIT Community offers a wide range of innovation and entrepreneurship activities across Europe: entrepreneurial education courses, business creation and acceleration services and innovation driven research projects.

Coordinating a high number of innovation projects with many stakeholders in a large ecosystem is complex. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your role in the EIT and with the EIT KICs?

Innovation Communities have a large degree of autonomy in defining their internal organisation and working methods. This also includes the way they are structuring their operations.

On the other hand, KICs have to follow specific requirements when they evaluate and select activities. For example, activities have to be selected through open calls in a transparent manner, ensuring that KICs are meeting the equal treatment requirement. Calls for selecting activities also have to meet specific requirements to ensure that the KICs’ portfolio of activities are aligned with the EIT’s KICs and strategic objectives.

So, at the EIT we look at the KICs’ processes, which are our main counterparts, and follow and monitor the KICs’ portfolio of activities.

What is the role of the EIT in the knowledge triangle (the interaction between business, research, and education) and how do you see the EUIPO fitting in with this model?

One of the core elements of the EIT innovation model is the integration of the knowledge triangle, namely bringing together research, business, and education in dynamic pan-European partnerships that lay the groundwork for innovation to flourish. It is clear that innovation and intellectual property go hand in hand. The EUIPO’s important work of developing operational IP frameworks and delivering training to entrepreneurs ensures that the innovations and creativity coming out of the knowledge triangle integration are properly protected, and entrepreneurs are given the support they need to power solutions for a greener, healthier, and more competitive Europe.

The EUIPO and the EIT signed a collaboration agreement in which we jointly pledge to support SMEs and their innovation. How would you sum up our first year of collaborating together and reaching this goal?

We consider our collaboration with the EUIPO as exemplary. In one year, we have achieved together much more than we initially planned. In particular, we have managed to link the EUIPO with several KIC programmes, such as EIT Health Jumpstarter and InnoStars, or joint KIC projects, for example, Skills for the Future and Girls Go Circular and started structurally embedding the IP into the KICs’ activities.

The EUIPO is supporting the EIT in developing the IP capacity of the KICs. We also succeeded in having a strong communications collaboration. Together with the EUIPO we held a joint webinar on IP in the Cultural and Creative Industries sector, promoting our call for a new Knowledge Innovation Community. In my view, this all comes from the fact that the EUIPO and the EIT play a complementary role in supporting businesses, innovators and entrepreneurs.

Only 9% of SMEs own their intellectual property despite studies showing that IPRs have a 68% higher revenue per employee, give extreme competitive advantage and increased financial credibility. Have you noticed any increase in IP awareness in 2021 among SMEs or the KICs giving you hope that this figure will improve?

Despite the fact that our collaboration is still budding, we can already see that awareness of IP-related issues has increased judging by the number of participants in our joint activities, for example, in our jointly organised IP training workshop we had around 500 participants, including start-ups. We also see that IP-related factors are more often integrated in the KICs’ selection and support provided to projects and start-ups.

I am sure that this will result very soon in a growing number of IP rights in KICs and KICs’ partners portfolios.?

The EIT is launching new initiatives such as the HEI, a new KIC on culture and more. How do you value these initiatives and the role that the EUIPO and its SME programme can play in supporting them?

The EIT has had an exciting year, with an array of new activities and initiatives launched. As I mentioned previously, we are getting ready to launch a ninth KIC centred around Europe’s vibrant Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSI). Again, our collaboration this year resulted in joint efforts to promote the call. EIT Culture & Creativity will bridge silos across the creative sectors and industries, it will train the sector’s future entrepreneurs, power its cutting-edge ventures, and deliver innovative solutions to the challenges facing the sectors. Currently, the call for proposals for EIT Culture and Creativity is open, inviting organisations from the knowledge triangle and CCSI to apply. An important aspect during the evaluation will be the future KIC’s plan for the management and exploitation of intellectual property supporting the KIC’s business model as well as plans to generate other types of revenues aimed at financial sustainability.

Intellectual property (IP) is very important for the creative and cultural fields, as these sectors are centred around the creation of designs, brands, novel ideas and narratives. As such, these valuable assets require protection so they can generate the appropriate revenues.

IP rights play an important role in supporting a thriving creative economy as they protect creativity and control the commercial exploitation of the products of scientific, technological and cultural creation. We also do hope that the new KIC will be supported by the EUIPO, like all other KICs, in developing its IP capacity. Another area for collaboration is linked with the EIT’s HEI Initiative: Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education, which is a joint EIT Community activity.

We believe that further collaboration with the HEI initiative will support to better integrate the IP into curricula of the EU higher education organisations.

To finish, what is in store for the EIT over the next few years and what synergies do you hope to achieve with the EUIPO SME programme?

We definitively want to accelerate our collaboration with the EUIPO as there are clear synergies between the EIT and the EUIPO. Our ambition is that in the next years we will see IP as an integral part of the KICs’ educational, innovation and business activities. In the next year we plan to further strengthen collaboration between the EUIPO and the EIT Higher Education Initiative, aimed at increasing innovative capacities of higher education institutions benefiting from the EIT funding. Also, an important aspect of ?developing the KICs’ financial sustainability will be to further develop their internal IP capacities and this also means developing IP assets.

With the support from the EUIPO we will make this a reality in a much more effective, easier and more efficient manner. ?