In 2008, the European Commission launched EIT, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, now part of Horizon 2020 (and will be included in Horizon Europe 2021-2027), created to promote, facilitate, and strengthen innovation within the Union. Knowledge and Innovation Communities of the EIT are partnerships among universities, business hubs (clusters), local authorities, private companies, and research centres, constituting one of the largest networks in the world of specialists and activities aimed at solving societal challenges across all domains. By 2019, 8 such communities had been launched: EIT Climate-KIC, EIT Digital, EIT Food, EIT Health, EIT InnoEnergy, EIT RawMaterials, and the newest – EIT Manufacturing and EIT Urban Mobility. They aim to prepare new generations of entrepreneurs for innovation in their fields, to support, reward, and launch new and innovative products, services, and companies.
For a significant portion of environmental aspects, actions are grouped within the Climate-KIC community, with the declared purpose of supporting the transition to a zero-carbon economy, in four directions with the following objectives (climate-kic.org/who-we-are/making-an-impact):
- Urban Transitions
- Promote decentralised energy and retrofitting.
- Creation of green, resilient cities.
- Accelerate clean urban mobility.
- Sustainable Land Use 4. Towards climate-smart agriculture. 5. Transforming food systems. 6. Protecting forests in integrated landscapes.
- Sustainable Production Systems 7. Reforming materials production. 8. Reducing industrial emissions. 9. Revitalising regional economies.
- Decision Making and Finance 10. Climate businesses on financial markets. 11. Democratizing information about climate risks. 12. Encouraging bankable ecological assets in cities.
Climate-KIC utilises tools such as the launch and implementation of strategies, educational programs (Journey, Catapult, Spark, etc., for students, postgraduates, and specialists, including master’s and doctoral students), online courses, the provision of grants to support objectives with the greatest potential for systemic change and commercial scalability, and the organization of thematic events, among others. Notable among these are:
- The international 24-hour Climathon, held in major cities worldwide and dedicated to innovative solutions to combat climate change, is inspired by IT hackathons.
- The Climate Launchpad competition for eco-business ideas.
- The Greenhouse and Climate Accelerator business-scaling incubators, which, as of 2019, had supported over 2,000 startups in environmental fields, with 20 entrepreneurs featured in Forbes Under 30. Some of the architectural interfaces with ecosystem potential documented for the current research have their origins within the Climate-KIC family.
