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Atrás Climate professionals can now apply for Climate-KIC’s Pioneers into Practice innovation programme

Climate professionals can now apply for Climate-KIC’s Pioneers into Practice innovation programme

LONDON, UK, 3 February 2015

Climate-KIC, the EU's main climate innovation initiative, has launched a new call for applications for its Pioneers into Practice programme. The scheme supports individuals and regions to develop their proposals for low-carbon experiments and sustainable business through professional mobility. The application period has opened on 30 January 2015 with a deadline of 31 March 2015.

Professionals in EU-regions across Europe's academic sector, businesses, research organisations and public administrations take part in Pioneers into Practice as pioneers, and will be placed in a host organisation. Both pioneers and hosts committed to solving the climate change challenge can respond to the call.

Participating pioneers get placed in a different work environment for two four-week placements - one in their own region and one in a partner region. The placements aim to boost new opportunities and business models to bring down CO2 output and increase growth and jobs in the clean economy. Pioneers receive financial support of up to €8000.

Aled Thomas, Regional Director at Climate-KIC, commented:
"This is the fifth year of the Pioneers into Practice programme. The feedback from participants to date has been overwhelmingly positive in terms of the way it has developed their knowledge and application of new solutions. A recent report on the programme showed that 95% of pioneers would recommend it to their colleagues. We are also seeking expressions of interest from new European regions wishing to participate in the programme in future years."

Climate-KIC is the EU's main climate innovation initiative and brings together researchers and businesses across Europe to find solutions to climate change and that can create sustainable growth and jobs in the process. Climate-KIC is one of the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) founded through the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the EU.

 

Inter-disciplinary approach

During the Pioneers into Practice programme, participants are encouraged to move between sectors to broaden their understanding of the way challenges are perceived and in the way collaboration can assist in overcoming particular barriers.

The exchange of information and knowledge is key to the programme. The experiences and ideas that flow out of the scheme create a new generation of experts, entrepreneurs and brokers to can help to accomplish a low carbon economy in Europe.

Climate-KIC centres based in regions across Europe take part in the programme. The participating regions include Central Hungary, Emilia-Romagna in Italy, Hessen in Germany, Lower Silesia in Poland, Utrecht in the Netherlands, the Valencian Region in Spain, the West-Midlands in the UK, Cork/Dublin in Ireland, Helsinki/Uusimaa in Finland, North of Portugal and Lisbon, Timis in Romania and Slovenia.
http://www.climate-kic.org/pioneers


Notes for Editor

About Climate-KIC
Climate-KIC is the EU's main climate innovation initiative. It is Europe's largest public-private innovation partnership focused on mitigating and adapting to climate change. Climate-KIC consists of companies, academic institutions and the public sector.

Climate-KIC is one of the partnerships created in 2010 by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), the European Union body that fully integrates the knowledge triangle of business, education and research by forming dynamic cross-competency partnerships – Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). KICs develop innovative products and services, start new companies, and train a new generation of entrepreneurs.

Climate-KIC has its headquarters in London, UK, and leverages national and regional centres across Europe to support start-up companies, bring together partners on innovation projects and to educate students to bring about a connected, creative transformation of knowledge and ideas into products and services that help mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Climate-KIC currently has centres in France, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK and a Nordic centre in Denmark with regional centres in Valencia, Spain; Central Hungary; Emilia Romagna, Italy; Lower Silesia, Poland; Hessen, Germany; and the West Midlands in the UK.

http://www.climate-kic.org
 

About the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is an independent body of the EU; set up to address the EU's innovation paradox. Europe has a lot of top-notch publicly funded research, while the translation of knowledge into innovation that can be marketed and be commercially successful creating growth and jobs is seriously lagging behind. And that's where the EIT comes in.

The EIT has a unique role in increasing European sustainable growth and competitiveness by reinforcing the innovation capacity of the EU within a dynamic and shifting global context. EIT brings unique Europe-wide and large-scale development of competences and capacities to boost entrepreneurial innovation and accelerate market uptake of innovation outcomes.

The EIT is showing increasing results in this area, which in addition have a multiplier effect of 1-3 for every euro invested due to the EIT's smart investment strategy which combines 25% investment from the EIT with 75% investment from the KIC partnerships. This leveraging and pooling of resources is the first for an EU body.

To date, the EIT's KICs bring together more than 650 leading partners from business, research and higher education from all over Europe, for the first time fully integrating business, research and higher education. The first three KICs: Climate KIC, EIT ICT Labs and KIC InnoEnergy were selected in 2009. EIT Health and EIT Raw Materials are the latest KICs selected in December 2014. The EIT will launch the next call for KIC Proposals in 2016, focusing on Food4Future and Added-value Manufacturing with a further call tentatively planned for 2018 to address Urban Mobility.
http://eit.europa.eu

Press contacts:

Climate-KIC Headquarters:

  • Angela Howarth, Head of Communications, Climate-KIC
    • angela.howarth@climate-kic.org +44 78 7285 0084


Contacts in the regions that take part in Pioneers into Practice: