European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) launches the website of the Global Outreach Program: forging synergies with innovation leaders

Knowledge transfer and collaborative and interactive frameworks are crucial for tackling some of the greatest societal challenges. In our last posts, we already mentioned some examples of international cooperation among institutions in the technological field (AIDA, the Artificial Intelligence Doctoral Academy) and in doctoral education (Link EDU-RES and DIOSI itself). Today, we will focus on innovation networks.

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is Europe’s innovation engine, with 8 Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) and connections with more than 2900 partners and with higher education and research organisations. Apart from creating a “healthier, greener and more digital Europe”, the EIT aims to “turn Europe’s best ideas into cutting-edge products and services”.

To do so, the EIT established in 2018 the EIT Global Outreach program, the first EIT Community coordinated effort at a global level. This program works as “a bridge linking the EIT’s innovation ecosystem with those of outreach locations, forging synergies with global innovation leaders”. It is based on the EIT’s signature Knowledge Triangle Integration (KTI) model and joins research, education, and business to create connections and market opportunities outside Europe. The programme also provides an EIT Community platform to team up with EU Member States and other European programmes and initiatives.

So, how does the EIT Global Outreach program support European innovators? This program develops a wide range of activities, but its three main actions are:

Green Q. Workshops and on-the-ground experiences designed for start-ups willing to scale up in innovation ecosystems outside Europe.
Connect and Experience activity. It is a Train the Trainers immersion course designed for innovation managers to learn about the Silicon Valley or the Israel innovation system and go back to Europe where they can transfer their knowledge to European start-ups.
Disrupt Me. It is run through the EIT Hub in Israel and is designed for mid-sized European companies. It gives experience with Israeli start-ups that have disruptive technology to the advantage of the European company.

Currently, two EIT Hubs exist under the Global Outreach programme, one in Silicon Valley (USA) and the other in Tel Aviv (Israel).

EIT European Institute of Innovation and Technology innovation network Silicon Valley technology Tel Aviv web