Selectie en organisatie van kennis en innovatie gemeenschappen (KICs) in het EIT

Nieuwe elementen rond de selectie en organisatie van kennis en innovatie gemeenschappen (KICs) in het Europees instituut voor Technologie en Innovatie (EIT) :

The EIT has released the selection criteria for the first Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs).

Met name de selectie criteria geven meer duidelijkheid rond de procedure die voor de keuze van de KICs zal gebruikt worden en de board van het EIT stelt zo een duidelijke transparante werkwijze voor die de bepaling van de KIC's zal sturen.

The EIT will organize meetings with members of the board in Wroclaw

Met name aandacht voor incorporatie van excellentie rond entrepreneurship in de structuur van de KICs is voor de board van het EIT erg belangrijk. Dit aspect is met name van belang voor de deelname van innovatieve SME's en grote bedrijven in de structuur van de KIC's.

•1. KIC Selection Criteria Published
KIC Selection Criteria Published

The EIT has released the selection criteria for the first Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). While the official publication of the call for proposals is expected in April, the EIT Governing Board already wants to provide interested parties with timely and comprehensive information on the main requirements that applicants are expected to fulfil in their KIC proposals. "We are aware of timing constraints. This is why we want to be as transparent as possible and provide potential applicants with clear guidance on what the EIT expects from a KIC" says EIT Chairman Dr. Martin Schuurmans.

KIC Selection Criteria

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)

Criteria for the Selection of Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs)

Article 7.1 of the EIT Regulation (EC) N° 294/2008 stipulates that "A partnership shall be selected and designated by the EIT to become a KIC on the basis of a competitive, open and transparent procedure. Detailed criteria for the selection of the KICs, based on the principles of excellence and innovation relevance, shall be adopted and published by the EIT."

This document sets out the criteria that the EIT Governing Board has established for the selection of the first KICs.

1. Proposals for Knowledge and Innovation Communities

The EIT shall publish, in 2009, a call for proposals for Knowledge and Innovation Communities. The proposal shall consist of:

Part A - this part contains administrative information on the partners and the proposal;

Part B - (indicative length: 20 pages plus a one-page summary); this part is the body of the proposal and describes the proposed KIC, what it wants to accomplish, its strategy, activities, work programme and processes, business plan (including provisions for sustainable and long-term self-supporting financing), its co-location plan and its IPR plan and the plans for dissemination of the KIC's activities and innovative education models;

Part C - (indicative length: 15 pages); this part addresses the credibility of the proposal, particularly in terms of the organization, management and governance of the KIC, the individual capability, capacity and international reputation of the partners and how this is integrated into a coherent world-class innovation chain from education through to economic and societal impact;

Part D - this part contains a declaration from the legal representative of each partner, as listed in part A of the proposal, on their endorsement of the proposal, the KIC organization and governance and their commitment to the objectives and aims of the KIC.

The proposal will principally address one of three priority areas:

climate change mitigation and adaptation;

sustainable energy;

future information and communication society.

2. Eligibility of proposals

Prior to evaluation, a proposal will be examined for conformity to the following eligibility criteria:

the proposal must have been submitted by the call deadline;

the proposal must contain completed parts A, B, C and D;

the combined length of parts B and C may not exceed 40 pages;

part D must contain the signed declaration from the legal representative of every partner listed in part A;

the proposed KIC must contain at least three independent partner organizations established in at least three Member States;

the majority of the partner organizations shall be established in the Member States;

the proposed KIC shall include at least one higher education establishment and one private company.

Only proposals satisfying all of the eligibility criteria shall pass to the following evaluation stages.

3. Initial Go/No-Go assessment

Proposal parts A and B will be assessed with respect to:

the consistency of the KIC topic with the targeted priority area and broad innovation goals, i.e. the degree to which the KIC addresses the priority area in a competitive and sustainable way.

This assessment will result in a Go/No-Go decision:

Go: the proposal primarily addresses the targeted priority area and broad innovation goals

No-Go: the proposal does not primarily address the targeted priority area and broad innovation goals

Only proposals receiving a "Go" decision will pass to the next step of the evaluation.

4. Step 1: evaluation of the quality of the proposed work programme and business plan

(maximum 100 points)

The "Go" proposals will be assessed with respect to the following criteria:

Novelty and attractiveness of the proposal (maximum 20 points);

Economic, environmental, societal and innovation impact of the KIC in the context of European challenges and policies and potential to make a major contribution to the aims of the EIT (maximum 20 points);

Internal coherence of the KIC strategy and activities (maximum 10 points)

- Completeness of tools and resources of partners and level of integration between partners to form the innovation chain

- provisions for innovation activities and investments including measures involving the private and financial sectors, SMEs, start-ups and spin-offs and new partners

- extent to which the technological and non-technological research is innovation-driven, of high quality and with the potential to make a major impact

- relevance and consistency of the education plan to KIC objectives;

Quality of the co-location plan (maximum 20 points)

- completeness and complementarity of KIC co-location centres

- plan of operation: within each co-location centre and between co-location centres and the other partners in the partnership

- people management in respect of co-location;

Planning for the management and use of intellectual property (maximum 10 points)

- effectiveness of the IPR plans including transfer, licensing and industrial value creation and consistency with KIC objectives

- mechanisms to promote innovative research and creativity including remuneration and reward schemes;

Completeness and credibility of the KIC business plan (maximum 10 points)

- market analysis and competitive benchmarks

- completeness and credibility of the financial plan including identification of the responsible actors, short-/medium-/long-term milestones, key performance indicators (KPIs) and sensitivity analysis (risk-assessment)

- potential of the KIC in terms of innovation added value such as new business creation through spin-outs and within established companies, licensing etc.; and creation of societal impact, for example job creation or other contributions to improvement of people's lives

- potential return on investment over a 10-year period, including financial and nonfinancial indicators;

Quality of the plans for dissemination of best practice and public outreach activity (maximum 10 points)

- effectiveness of plans for external dissemination of best practice and excellence in the innovation sector, including education plans and programmes

- effectiveness of public outreach.

To pass this step of the evaluation, proposals must obtain at least 30% of the maximum points for each of the seven criteria listed above and at least 50 points in total for this step. Only the five highest-scoring proposals from each priority area will pass to the next step of evaluation.

5. Step 2: evaluation of the commitment, capability and combined strength of the partners involved (maximum 100 points)

Proposals passing step 1 will be assessed with respect to the following criteria:

Management, governance and organization of the partnership and co-location, covering also financial and legal aspects of the KIC (maximum 50 points)

- suitability of the legal and financial structure: the proposal must demonstrate that the structure must fully supports the aims of the KIC

- appropriateness of the organization and management including key people profiles and time commitment in order to enable the KIC to function as an integrated entity

- degree to which the governance structure supports clear and timely decision-making within the KIC;

The combined strength of the partners (maximum 50 points)

- the strength of the KIC in terms of the capability and capacity of the partners in the fields of higher education, research, innovation and entrepreneurship

- the strength and track record of partners' existing experience within the innovation chain

- the commitment of the partners to integrate activities and resources within the KIC

- the coherence of the partners' collaboration to form a world-class innovation chain closely linking all activities from education through to economic and societal impact.

The final score of a proposal is the sum of the scores for steps 1 and 2, maximum 200.

The three top scoring proposals from each priority area will be examined by an independent panel of experts.

6. Assessment by a final panel and hearings

At the end of step 2, a final panel will examine the three top-scoring proposals from each priority area (9 proposals in total) together with their associated evaluation reports. The final panel will:

adjust, if necessary, the final scores to ensure consistency between the three priority area evaluation panels;

make recommendations concerning the selection of the designated KICs;

make recommendations concerning the way in which the selected proposals need to be improved or strengthened.

The selection panel will prepare a report for the EIT Governing Board.

Upon receipt of this report, the EIT Governing Board will decide on whether to hold hearings prior to the designation of 2 or 3 KICs.

Where hearings are held, these will be with the representatives of the highest-ranked proposals taken in order from the respective priority area lists. No more than 6 proposals will be invited to hearings.

7. Designation of the KICs

The Governing Board will designate 2 or 3 KICs.

The detailed call for proposals is expected to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union in early April and will equally be available through the EIT website.

The EIT presentation will provide background information on the concepts referred to in the selection criteria.

•2. Entrepreneurship Seminar
Wroclaw, Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 May 2009

More information available soon.

•3. KIC Info Day
Wroclaw, Friday 8 May 2009

More information available soon.

Meer informatie : http://ec.europa.eu/eit/seminars_en.htm#entrepreneurship