Europe’s Global Innovation Footprint
EIT Global Outreach Programme connects talents, knowledge and key players worldwide to tackle societal challenges.
The EIT Global Outreach programme links business, research and education to create relationships and market opportunities in key locations outside Europe – enabling the EIT and its communities to develop world-class solutions to societal challenges, and to create jobs and deliver sustainable economic growth opportunities for Europe.
The Cross-KIC Global Outreach programme was established in 2018 to act as a bridge, linking the EIT’s innovation ecosystem with those of innovation valleys around the world, forging synergies with global innovation leaders and creating significant value for the European economy, alongside the local ecosystems.
By working together, the EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities develop activities that showcase EIT-supported innovations at international level, create tailor-made support to facilitate the internationalisation efforts of European entrepreneurs and innovators, and bring together knowledge and resources from the EIT innovation ecosystem and the selected outreach locations to tackle global challenges and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Global Outreach Programme, which EIT Manufacturing is part of, is led by EIT Health-KIC and is managed by the EIT Global Outreach Working Group, which consists of representatives of the EIT and its KICs.
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Read more about EIT Global Outreach Programme
Cross-KIC 2022 Activities
Bringing more women into the entrepreneurship ecosystem and the investment industry!
Supernovas is a Cross-KIC programme that aims to increase the presence of women in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Europe.
The initiative will focus on having an ecosystem with more women in: the high-tech & deep-tech environments, more women entrepreneurs growing and getting funded, becoming active and lead investors in innovation, and hence shaping the innovations available in the market.
Fostering collaboration to reach a more equal and gender balanced entrepreneurial sector in Europe.
Entrepreneurship has a crucial role to play in Europe’s economic growth. Yet women entrepreneurs continue to face different gendered challenges, since they are students until they play a central role. By promoting women’s entrepreneurship, European societies could accelerate economic growth and women’s participation in the market place.
Supernovas is a programme developed by EIT Food, EIT Manufacturing and EIT Urban Mobility. It takes into consideration the main existing barriers to improve the presence of women in the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem. It proposes activities that seek to unleash their potential to fill ecosystem gender gaps by identifying key groups of women and supporting them with specific instruments as best suited for the purpose. Activities address women with different ages, backgrounds and aspirations, all with the potential to set the path for future generations of women in the innovation ecosystem.
What are Supernovas’ activities?
- Women Investors Community will be the place where female investors can learn (through training courses), invest (through investment forums) and share (through networking events).
- Rocket Up will support women-led startups to maximize their growth and scale their business internationally.
- Women2Invest will increase women in decision-making roles in the early-stage funding industry educating them to gain the necessary skills to join the investment industry and supporting them to find a first job in a VC or CVC.
- Women Leadership Programme will develop the leadership potential of women in science or entrepreneurship key positions, through the collaboration with the European Innovation Council.
Read more about Supernovas’ programme
Skills For Future
Skills for the Future
Skills for the Future is an entrepreneurship education programme that equips secondary school students with entrepreneurial skills through mentorship from industry leaders.
Skills for the Future is a groundbreaking secondary education programme to foster the next generation of entrepreneurs in Europe by empowering them with the insights, skills and confidence to innovate solutions to the complex challenges ahead.
Along with the EIT KICs, Skills for the Future is executed in partnership with Junior Achievement Europe, a leader in entrepreneurial education that connects students across the continent with industry mentors.
This intiative is the result of a collaboration between EIT Manufacturing together with EIT Climate, EIT Food and EIT Raw Materials in two distinct Cross-KIC activities:
Circular Economy
Synergies to drive the European circular economy agenda
EIT Community introduces system maps of circular economy actions across Europe
The concept of a circular economy has gained traction in Europe as a positive, solutions-based perspective for achieving economic development within increasing environmental constraints. According to the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, global consumption of materials such as biomass, fossil fuels, metals and minerals is expected to double in the next 40 years, while annual waste generation is projected to increase by 70% by 2050. The need for transition to a greener and more competitive Europe will be implemented by joint circular economy actions.
Strengthening pan-European cooperation to boost innovation in Europe
EIT Innovation Community represents dynamic and creative partnerships that harness European innovation, education and entrepreneurship actions addressing societal challenges. To achieve the ambitious goals outlined in the EU Green Deal and the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, six EIT Communities, including EIT RawMaterials, EIT Digital, EIT Food, EIT Manufacturing, EIT Climate-KIC and EIT Urban Mobility, joined efforts for the EIT Circular Economy Community. EIT Circular Economy Community is led by EIT RawMaterials.
EIT Circular Economy Community has developed system maps to bring together and align circular economy strategies.
The system maps consolidate two databases:
- Cross-KIC Circular Economy initiatives initiated, funded or supported by the six EIT Communities.
- European Circular Economy initiatives in the portfolios of selected EU stakeholders.
These system maps are a useful tool for portfolio management, enabling the creation and implementation of a Cross-KIC strategy for the circular economy. They also serve as an access point for any interested stakeholder who wishes to scour the landscape of circular economy innovation funded and created by the EIT Community or other European stakeholders.
Fostering cross-innovation and collaboration for a green and circular future of Europe
With the introduction of the system maps, the EIT Community can understand better where their strengths, weaknesses, overlaps and synergies lie to trigger cross-innovation and collaboration, boosting their reach and influence in contributing to driving the European circular economy agenda. Moreover, the tool enhances transparency and enables collaboration in the ecosystem, positioning the EIT Community closer to other European Commission’s agencies or services that hold similar tools, for example, EASME Data Hubs and CORDIS .
The map of Cross-KIC circular economy initiatives represents the circular economy portfolio of six EIT Communities. Different views or clustering approaches in the system map enable an analysis of strengths, gaps, overlaps and synergies for the initiatives. The maps visually interpret the database of initiatives, including circular economy focus areas, economic sectors, position in the value chain, funding size.
The second map represents a set of initiatives related to the circular economy in the portfolios of selected European stakeholders. This map allows an overview and benchmarking with initiatives within key European stakeholders, including the European Commission, EASME, the European Investment Bank, ACR + Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable Resource management, EUROCITIES, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, WCEF/SITRA World Circular Economy Forum, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
We welcome all partners and stakeholders working on circular economy solutions to explore the systems maps and collaboration opportunities
Water Scarcity
Finding innovative solutions to alleviate water scarcity in Southern Europe
EIT Manufacturing, Food, Climate KIC and Digital KICs, Athena RC and Bioazul S.L., are leading a multiannual and multidisciplinary programme designed to alleviate water scarcity in Southern Europe. We work together considering water scarcity as a thematic field from agriculture, and food to manufacturing.
This programme carries out a series of activities, from research to innovation and education, to joint efforts and effectively find the appropriate solutions to water shortages in Southern regions, for Europe to lead the way towards a more sustainable future. The long-term objective of the Water Scarcity programme is to ease the transition to a water saving economy across Southern Europe and contribute to reducing Europe’s water consumption and wastage by:
- Fostering Innovation & Entrepreneurship by supporting scaleups and SMEs offering solutions to tackle specific water-related challenges faced by several stakeholders in their daily operations (i.e. improved irrigation methods and infrastructures; resilient crops and crop management techniques; leakage reduction; usage prediction; pollutants detection and monitoring, etc.).
- Creating a strong experts’ community to progress on the key challenges to tackle water scarcity, with a special focus on Water Governance, Financial Schemes and Legal Enforcement and establishing solid partnerships with relevant stakeholders.
- Sharing knowledge to build capabilities to business and individuals to ensure the environmental sustainability of any business and of our daily activities (i.e. industrial players, farmers, citizens), fostering the adoption of a water saving culture among final users in Europe.
Overall, the programme will strengthen local innovations and will contribute to the economic and social progress in modest and moderated innovation countries as sufficient and good-quality water supply is a prerequisite for socioeconomic development.
In 2020, the programme gathered 16 top-class experts, supported 26 startups, promoted education through several activities in Italy, Greece and Spain.
Download the report to see everything achieved last year
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