CyberEurope

The characteristics of KICs

KICs bring together different people working together across the innovation web. Key actors include: businesses (including SMEs); entrepreneurs; research and technology organizations; higher education institutions; investment communities (private investors and venture capital); research funders, including charities and foundations; and local, regional, and national governments.

The partners must be established in at least three different EU Member States and must include at least one higher education partner and one private company. With the intention of strengthening the innovation capacity, KICs may also include non-Member State partners.

The core activities of KICs will bring together the innovation web to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship through entrepreneurship education, co-location, top quality leadership and management, combined with simplicity and a “can do” approach.

Distinctive co-location centers

Co-location of team members from diverse backgrounds is an essential notion in the establishment of KICs. A co-location center is a geographical location where all or a large part of the innovation web can be found in close proximity. By bringing together geographically separated people, co-location builds the collaborative activities of the KIC partners into regional or national centers of excellence.

Working face-to-face amongst people from organizations with different roles in the innovation chain will foster knowledge transfer in the most effective way. A co-location center is a lead node in the network of participating nodes making up a KIC, bringing together people from different organizations, sectors, disciplines, and countries, united by common strategic objectives. Typically, each KIC has four to six co-location centers, each one potentially associated with a subtheme of the overall theme of the KIC.

Through the promotion of new interactions between all the actors in the innovation web, the co-location centers will build on excellent regional clusters and raise them to international levels of competitiveness. Such centers will become attractive breeding grounds for new ideas and interactions, consolidating and accelerating the innovation process.

Effective management and governance structure

KICs need to be run with a clear business mind-set capable of taking decisions that engage the entire partnership swiftly and effectively to achieve world-class capability and new business impact. That includes high quality management with strong leadership and direction (e.g., CEO, CFO) devoted full-time to develop strategy, ensure delivery of milestones and outputs, and facilitate the day-to-day operation of the organization. KICs also provide clear organization and collaboration rules (including entry-exit rules), as well as a monitored business plan focused on deliverables with targeted investment returns and drivers identified upfront leading to relentless focus on results.

An effective and flexible governance structure enables rapid decision making committing all KIC members. KICs adopt shared short-, mid-, and long-term targets, performance indicators, and milestones for their activities. A strong outreach program—for example to attract new partners, to develop and support clusters of SMEs around KIC nodes, and to engage public interest in technology and nontechnology-driven innovation and its importance in delivering Europe's economic and social future—is of utmost importance for KICs.

Motivating intellectual property rights rules

The aim of KICs' intellectual property rights (IPR) policy is to create an entrepreneurship friendly environment. KICs must therefore establish a motivating IPR policy, defining principles for the ownership of IP and access right respecting EU rules. Each KIC defines an appropriate internal policy governing the rights (e.g., assignment) and obligations of researchers and students involved in mobility.

The KIC also negotiates in good faith to license IP to interested EU and non-EU parties and to optimize the exploitation and uptake of KIC knowledge and technologies, bearing in mind the business goals of the KIC parties and the EIT goal of boosting EU competitiveness and innovation. In order to manage knowledge transfer and IP issues, each KIC must set up an IP Board responsible for this.

Compiled by Giuseppe Riva, PhD

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy

Source: European Institute of Innovation and Technology