The call comes ahead of EIT INNOVEIT Stockholm: Innovation in Higher Education
A leading scientist and innovator has urged European universities and higher education institutions to revolutionise their innovation activities to effectively tackle climate change. Dr. Riam Kanso, founder and CEO of ConceptionX, will be the keynote speaker at the INNOVEIT Stockholm: Innovation in Higher Education on 15 September. The event is coordinated and led by EIT RawMaterials, the world’s largest consortium on raw materials, funded by the
European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.
Reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 means new innovations in technology and energy are urgently needed. These innovations will largely stem from universities and higher education institutions. The EIT Higher Education Institutions (HEI) Initiative funds and supports higher education institutions (HEIs) in growing their research and development faculties and boosting entrepreneurship activities and synergies with industry players, many with the aim of accelerating deep tech and energy innovations coming to market (start-ups and spin-offs).
Dr. Kanso: Urgent progress needed for innovation in higher education
Dr. Kanso’s company, Conception X, has a complementary mission to the EIT HEI Initiative. Conception X is an independent, non-profit that works closely with more than 30 universities across the UK to discover and train aspiring PhD founders from leading research labs, helping them become eligible for innovation grants, awards and venture capital funding. Through a nine-month deep-tech venture programme, PhD students explore ways to commercialise their research while still at university – much like the EIT labeled Masters and PhD programmes.
Dr. Kanso says new models like this are needed to unleash Europe’s potential as a hotspot for meaningful innovation, especially with the continent’s 2050 deadline to reach net-zero emissions fast approaching.
Dr. Kanso said: “Universities and higher education institutions are built to spread knowledge that improves the world. Yet, the current system of spreading this knowledge by publishing papers can sometimes hinder progress – by the time a paper is published, the research could be three years old. We need to create models where research and innovation come together to reinforce and advance each other.”
EIT RawMaterials CEO Bernd Schäfer stressed: “Europe is at an epochal turning point, where the ambitious goals of the European Green Deal are placing more extraordinary demands on higher education than ever before. Our EIT HEI Initiative was established for this reason, to empower higher education institutions to become engines of innovation and foster sustainable growth and jobs. The initiative brings Europe’s education, research, and industry leaders together to work on strengthened innovation in higher education with the aim of solving some of the world’s biggest problems – like climate change.”
Speaking about the EIT HEI Initiative, Dr. Kanso said: “We’re working to promote knowledge and innovation and help great people excel. The more allies we have and the more connected we are, the easier it will be to achieve that. Network initiatives like the EIT HEI are crucial.’’
INNOVEIT: Stockholm – Focus on Innovation in Higher Education
This hybrid event will highlight the ongoing work of the
EIT’s HEI Initiative. Discussions will focus on how the EIT HEI Initiative will connect with deep tech innovations and talents and EIT Labelled education programmes for enhanced innovation capacity building.
All active projects selected for both Cohort 1 (launched in July 2021) and Cohort 2 (launched in July 2022) will be present at the event. There are 23 active Cohort 1 and 26 active Cohort 2 projects in the HEI Initiative network. Cohort 1 projects will share the good practices and methodologies they have learned so far for increasing innovation capacity in European higher education institutions.
Dr. Tamer Abu-Alam is the Project Coordinator of one of EIT HEI Initiative’s funded Cohort 1 projects, CloudEARTHi, and an academic at UiT, the Artic University of Norway.
Dr. Abu-Alam says initiatives like the EIT HEI Initiative, and this event, are crucial because Europe can only be decarbonised if industry, research, and higher education work closely together.
‘’Without this coming together of stakeholders we cannot achieve a solution to the climate crisis. We are all working on the same problem – but from different perspectives. This is why the EIT HEI Initiative and the Stockholm event are so important – because everyone is brought together, everyone presents their point of view, and based on this we can innovate and work together to address this challenge.”
The CloudEARTHi project guides students on how to develop their business plan in line with the European Green Deal, and how to use big data to address gaps in their business model. Within just two months, one student has already started his own business to recycle computer components – an activity that will help to provide the EU with specific raw materials necessary for the green transition.
Dr. Tamer Abu-Alam will also take part in the panel discussion ‘EIT HEI Initiative: Innovation capacity building good practices.’ Several Cohort 1 projects will discuss their impact and learnings so far, in addition to their planned work for the second phase of their funding period.
