EIT-RAWMATERIALS
A leading innovator in science has urged European universities and higher education institutions to revolutionise their innovation activities to effectively tackle climate change. Dr. Riam Kanso, founder and CEO of Conception X, will be the keynote speaker at the INNOVEIT Stockholm: Innovation in Higher Education on 15 September. The event is coordinated and led by EIT RawMaterials, the world’s largest consortium on raw materials, funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.
The registration for in-person or virtual attendance at INNOVEIT Stockholm is now open.
Reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 means new innovations in technology and energy are urgently needed. These innovations will largely stem from universities and higher education institutions. The EIT Higher Education Institutions Initiative (EIT HEI) funds and supports higher education institutions in growing their research and development faculties and boosting entrepreneurship activities and synergies with industry players, many with the aim of accelerating deep tech and energy innovations coming to market (start-ups and spin-offs).
The EIT HEI Initiative is titled ‘Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education’ and is a unique model that brings together industry/businesses with researchers and higher education. The initiative is a key objective for the EIT as part of the EIT’s new seven-year strategy for 2021-2027. The programme supports higher education institutions with expertise and coaching, access to the EIT innovation ecosystem, and funding to boost the capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship activities at European higher education institutions.
Dr. Kanso: Urgent Progress Needed for Innovation in Higher Education
Dr. Kanso’s company, Conception X, has a complementary mission to the EIT HEI Initiative. Conception X is an independent, non-profit that works closely with more than 30 universities across the UK to discover and train aspiring PhD founders from leading research labs, helping them become eligible for innovation grants, awards, and venture capital funding. Through a nine-month deep-tech venture programme, PhD students explore ways to commercialise their research while still at university – much like the EIT-Labelled Masters and PhD programmes.
Dr. Kanso says new models like this are needed to unleash Europe’s potential as a hotspot for meaningful innovation, especially with the continent’s 2050 deadline to reach net-zero emissions fast approaching.
Dr. Kanso said: “Universities and higher education institutions are built to spread knowledge that improves the world. Yet, the current system of spreading this knowledge by publishing papers can sometimes hinder progress – by the time a paper is published, the research could be three years old. We need to create models where research and innovation come together to reinforce and advance each other.”
EIT RawMaterials CEO Bernd Schäfer stressed: “Europe is at an epochal turning point, where the ambitious goals of the European Green Deal are placing more extraordinary demands on higher education than ever before. Our EIT HEI Initiative was established for this reason, to empower higher education institutions to become engines of innovation and foster sustainable growth and jobs. The initiative brings Europe’s education, research, and industry leaders together to work on strengthened innovation in higher education with the aim of solving some of the world’s biggest problems - like climate change.”
Speaking about the EIT HEI Initiative, Dr. Kanso said: “We’re working to promote knowledge and innovation and help great people excel. The more allies we have and the more connected we are, the easier it will be to achieve that. Network initiatives like the EIT HEI are crucial.’’
INNOVEIT: Stockholm - Focus on Innovation in Higher Education
This hybrid event will highlight the ongoing work of the EIT’s HEI Initiative. Discussions will focus on how the EIT HEI Initiative will connect with deep tech innovations and talents and EIT-Labelled education programmes for enhanced innovation capacity building.
All active projects selected for both the EIT HEI’s Cohort 1 (launched in July 2021) and Cohort 2 (launched in July 2022) will be present at the event. There are 23 active Cohort 1 and 26 active Cohort 2 projects in the HEI Initiative network. Cohort 1 projects will share the good practices and methodologies they have learned so far for increasing innovation capacity in European higher education institutions.
Dr. Tamer Abu-Alam is the Project Coordinator of one of EIT HEI Initiative’s funded Cohort 1 projects, CloudEARTHi, and an academic at UiT, the Artic University of Norway.
Dr. Abu-Alam says initiatives like the EIT HEI Initiative, and this event, are crucial because Europe can only be decarbonised if industry, research, and higher education work closely together.
‘’Without this coming together of stakeholders we cannot achieve a solution to the climate crisis. We are all working on the same problem - but from different perspectives. This is why the EIT HEI and the Stockholm event are so important - because everyone is brought together, everyone presents their point of view, and based on this we can innovate and work together to address this challenge.”
The CloudEARTHi project guides students on how to develop their business plan in line with the European Green Deal, and how to use big data to address gaps in their business model. Within just two months, one student has already started his own business to recycle computer components – an activity that will help to provide the EU with specific raw materials necessary for the green transition.
Dr. Tamer Abu-Alam will also take part in the panel discussion ‘EIT HEI Initiative: Innovation capacity building good practices.’
The event is an integral part of the INNOVEIT WEEKS, a series of events showcasing how EIT, Europe’s largest innovation ecosystem, offers unique opportunities to innovators and entrepreneurs, powering solutions to global challenges.
The registration for in-person or virtual attendance at INNOVEIT Stockholm is now open.
ENDS
Notes for the Editor
European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
The EIT is an EU body and an integral part of Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. The Institute supports dynamic pan-European partnerships, EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities, among leading companies, research labs, and universities. The EIT is Europe’s largest innovation ecosystem bringing together close to 3 000 partners from top business, research and education organisations across Europe in 200+ hubs. More than 3 800 students have graduated from EIT labelled master and doctoral programmes and over 100 000 have participated in EIT Community entrepreneurial trainings.
EIT HEI Initiative: Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education
The EIT HEI Initiative: Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education is a joint EIT Community programme led by EIT RawMaterials − one of the EIT’s Knowledge and Innovation Communities. The initiative aims to support higher education institutions with expertise and coaching, access to the EIT innovation ecosystem, and funding, enabling them to develop innovation action plans contextualised to the needs of individual higher education institutions. In July 2021, 23 projects started their activities after the EIT HEI Initiative Pilot Call. By 2027, the EIT HEI Initiative aims to support 550 higher education institutions boosting European innovation in higher education and driving the twin transition towards a more sustainable, digital and competitive Europe.
EIT RawMaterials
The objective of EIT RawMaterials is to secure a sustainable raw materials supply by driving innovation, education, and entrepreneurship across European industrial ecosystems. EIT RawMaterials provides a collaborative environment for disruptive and breakthrough innovations by connecting business with academia, research, and investment. It also invests in future generations of innovators for the raw materials sector, through initiatives ranging from the education of school students to higher qualifications for industry professionals.
The company is committed to supporting Europe’s transition towards a circular, green, and digital economy whilst strengthening its global competitiveness and securing employment. On this foundation, EIT RawMaterials has been mandated by the European Commission to lead and manage the European Raw Materials Alliance (ERMA).
EIT RawMaterials – developing raw materials into a major strength for Europe. Connecting Matters!
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220906005543/en/
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
ViTAA Medical Secures FDA 510(k) Clearance for AiORTA™ Plan — Marking the First Step in Its Hyper-Precise Aortic Care Platform12.11.2025 16:00:00 CET | Press release
FDA clearance marks a pivotal milestone in ViTAA’s broader AiORTA™ suite, designed to support physicians across the full continuum of aortic care ViTAA Medical Solutions Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted 510(k) clearance for AiORTA™ Plan, the company’s fully automated, hyper-precise aortic surgery planning solution. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251112394413/en/ This clearance represents a key milestone in the evolution of ViTAA’s broader AiORTA™ platform, built to support physicians across the full continuum of aortic care. ViTAA’s additional innovations—AiORTA™ Maps and AiORTA™ Watch—are currently in multicenter clinical studies, progressing rapidly toward future clinical release. A Leap Forward in Aortic Surgery Planning Built to automate key preoperative measurements and streamline aortic case prep, AiORTA™ Plan generates a complete aortic plan in minutes.
Deciphera Announces Multiple Data Presentations at the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) Annual Meeting 202512.11.2025 15:30:00 CET | Press release
– Multiple presentations on vimseltinib for the treatment of Tenosynovial Giant Cell Tumor (TGCT), including encore data from the Phase 3 MOTION study presented in an oral session – – Two posters on DCC-3009 in Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST) – Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Osaka, Japan; President and COO: Toichi Takino; “Ono”), today announced that data from multiple pipeline programs, including long-term and safety results from its MOTION Phase 3 study of vimseltinib in patients with TGCT in cases where surgical removal of the tumor is not an option, will be presented during the CTOS Annual Meeting 2025, taking place November 12-15 in Boca Raton, Florida. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251112742665/en/ “We are excited about the breadth of data we’re presenting at CTOS this year, which underscore the strong progress we continue to sustain across our pipeline,” said Matthew L. Sherman, M.D
Deskpro Launches New Private Help Desk Solution with Private AI Support for Organizations with Strict Security, Compliance, and Data Sovereignty Requirements12.11.2025 15:13:00 CET | Press release
Deskpro Private Eliminates Impossible Choice Between AI Capabilities and Data Security for Organizations Including Financial Services, Healthcare, Aerospace and Defense, and Government Today, Deskpro, provider of the secure AI-powered help desk platform, announced the launch of Deskpro Private, making AI-powered help desk capabilities available to industries with stringent security and compliance requirements for the first time. The new platform delivers flexible private deployment, allowing companies to run their AI-powered help desk entirely within their AWS Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), on-premise enterprise data center, or sovereign cloud. Enterprises can connect to their AI of choice, including commercial, public, private, custom, and open source models, using existing organizational accounts and APIs. This means sensitive data never leaves the organization’s approved security perimeter. With Deskpro, organizations no longer need to sacrifice the measurable ROI from AI capabilities
New Study Reveals Tech Industry Leads AI Adoption in Support Operations at 92%; Regulated Industries Only at 58% Due to Compliance Constraints12.11.2025 15:06:00 CET | Press release
Research Finds Security and Compliance Requirements Are Reshaping Technology Adoption, with Healthcare, Finance, and Government Organizations Facing Deployment Constraints that Technology Companies Avoid Today, Deskpro, provider of the secure AI-powered help desk platform, released results from the State of AI in Support Operations: Balancing Innovation and Compliance report, which quantifies how security and compliance requirements are creating distinct market segments with vastly different AI adoption rates. According to the data, 92% of technology companies are adopting AI for support operations, while companies in regulated industries are significantly lagging behind with a 58% adoption rate. This 34-point gap reflects a significant disconnect: organizations are eager to adopt AI-powered support solutions, but face significant barriers related to data security, compliance and regulatory requirements, and deployment flexibility. While market demand for AI support capabilities exists
Ran Kurup Joins MinIO to Accelerate Corporate Strategic Growth12.11.2025 15:00:00 CET | Press release
MinIO, the data foundation for Enterprise AI, today announced the appointment of Ran Kurup as Chief Corporate Development Officer. In this newly created role, Kurup will lead MinIO’s global strategic growth initiatives, including geographic expansion, mergers and acquisitions, and other investment strategies designed to extend the company’s leadership in enterprise AI data infrastructure. Kurup joins MinIO from Intel Capital, where he played a central role in supporting high-growth companies across AI, data infrastructure, and enterprise technology. His extensive experience in driving operational scale for a wide range and quantity of investments positions him to advance MinIO’s long-term growth objectives. “Ran’s appointment underscores MinIO’s commitment to executing a disciplined and expansive growth strategy,” said Garima Kapoor, Co-founder and Co-CEO of MinIO. “As we continue to scale globally, his experience at the intersection of technology investment and enterprise transformati
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom