European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology was founded to enhance the innovative power in Europe and thus the economic competitiveness. Established in 2008 and based in Budapest/Hungary, its administrative board has developed strategic requirements with regard to Europe's innovation orientation.

With the so-called Knowledge and Innovation Communities KICs, close transnational partnerships with actors from the triangle of research – education – innovation (industry) were formed that are meant to boost innovation in predefined topics.

Two out of three topics selected so far are related to the field of environmental and sustainability research. Respective KICs were formed for both climate research and sustainable energy production.

Climate KIC: Here, the participating German partners are the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), the TU Berlin and the Forschungszentrum Jülich.

KIC-Inno-Energy: Here, the German partners are the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the University of Stuttgart, and EnBW.