Public Interventions EIT Climate-KIC MEP Network
Maria da Graça Carvalho participated in the official launch event of the "EIT Climate-KIC MEP Network" organized by Climate-KIC and Malcolm Harbour MEP. The event took place at the European Parliament in Brussels and counted with the participation of Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism, Sport, Media and Youth.
The objective of this cross-party network of MEPs is to provide a platform for regular dialogue on Climate-KIC developments as well as to build relationships between Climate-KIC partners and senior representatives from the other European institutions.
Climate-KIC is one of three Knowledge and Innovation Communities designated by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to become key drivers of sustainable economic growth and competitiveness across Europe through world-leading innovation. It aims to drive innovation in the area of climate change adaptation and mitigation through an integrated European network of global and regional partners from the private, public and academic worlds.
During the introduction, Maria da Graça Carvalho spoke about her nomination as the rapporteur for the specific programme implementing H2020. Although this does not include EIT, Ms Carvalho will be the shadow rapporteur for the EIT opinion in the Budget Committee. MEP Carvalho said that this meeting was "particularly timely" as the Parliament is in the process of preparing the final H2020 reports.
In the agenda was also the mission of Climate-KIC by Prof. John Schellnhuber, Chair of Climate-KIC Governing Board and Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research; and an overview of Climate, followed by examples:
- Education - Participants from the Climate-KIC Summer School
- Entrepreneurship - Winners of the Climate-KIC Venture Competition
- Innovation & Pathfinder - New projects developed by Climate-KIC partners
To conclude, Prof Mary Ritter, CEO of Climate-KIC, Imperial College London spoke about the -KIC activity.
In March 2011, Maria da Graça Carvalho was invited by Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou to co-create and chair the "Friends of EIT" group.