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
AI-Powered Creator Monetisation Platform, Fanvue, Hits $100m Run Rate and Raises $22m Series A Investment - as Leading Global Creators Rush to Join the Platform19.1.2026 01:01:00 CET | Press release
Fanvue, the AI-powered creator monetisation platform with a $100m-plus run rate, has announced a $22m Series A investment round. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260112458975/en/ Joel Morris, Will Monange and Harry Fitzgerald (left to right) Fanvue has bet big on AI-powered tools changing the face of an industry estimated to be worth over $500B by 2030. The platform, which recently crossed $100m annualised revenue, has over 17 million monthly active users, and is home to 250,000 creators who are using Fanvue’s pioneering AI tools to scale their businesses and earn. Instead of competing with legacy platforms, Fanvue is defining a new category, the Creator AI Economy. Fanvue’s belief is that the next generation of creators will accelerate their earnings through utilising technology. And it’s happening in real time. According to Fanvue, just over 93% of creators on the platform used at least one of the platform’s
Andersen Consulting udvider sit udbud af humankapital med tilføjelsen af Jakarta Consulting Group16.1.2026 21:09:00 CET | Pressemeddelelse
Andersen Consulting styrker sine kompetencer gennem en samarbejdsaftale med Jakarta Consulting Group (JCG), der er et rådgivningsfirma, som er kendt for sin ekspertise inden for organisatorisk transformation, humankapitalstrategi og ledelsesudvikling. Med hovedsæde i Indonesien har JCG rådgivet virksomheder inden for brancher som ejendom, minedrift og produktion gennem strategisk og kulturel transformation. Med kerneydelser, der omfatter virksomheds- og administrationsrådgivning, hr-rådgivning, vurdering samt virksomheds- og ledelsestræning, er virksomheden kendt for sin evne til at transformere virksomheder og ledere med agilitet, kulturel intelligens og handlingsorienterede løsninger. "Vi har altid ment, at bæredygtig transformation begynder med mennesker – når ledere udvikler sig, følger organisationer med," siger Patricia Susanto, CEO for Jakarta Consulting Group. "Ved at kombinere Andersen Consultings globale perspektiv med vores regionale indsigt kan vi tilbyde kunderne mere helh
ClickHouse Raises $400M Series D Led by Dragoneer to Accelerate Expansion Across Analytics and AI Infrastructure16.1.2026 15:30:00 CET | Press release
Company acquires Langfuse to enter LLM observability and introduces a native Postgres service to unify transactional and analytical workloads ClickHouse, a leader in real-time analytics, data warehousing, observability, and AI/ML, announced today the close of its Series D financing, raising $400 million. The round was led by Dragoneer Investment Group, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, GIC, Index Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., and WCM Investment Management. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260116008883/en/ ClickHouse Co-Founders (left to right): Yury Izrailevsky, Aaron Katz, Alexey Milovidov The financing follows a period of sustained, accelerating growth for ClickHouse. The company now serves more than 3,000 customers on its fully managed service, ClickHouse Cloud, with ARR growing more than 250 percent year over year
Qualcomm Announces Quarterly Cash Dividend16.1.2026 15:00:00 CET | Press release
Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.89 per common share, payable on March 26, 2026, to stockholders of record at the close of business on March 5, 2026. About Qualcomm Qualcomm relentlessly innovates to deliver intelligent computing everywhere, helping the world tackle some of its most important challenges. Building on our 40 years of technology leadership in creating era-defining breakthroughs, we deliver a broad portfolio of solutions built with our leading-edge AI, high-performance, low-power computing, and unrivaled connectivity. Our Snapdragon® platforms power extraordinary consumer experiences, and our Qualcomm Dragonwing™ products empower businesses and industries to scale to new heights. Together with our ecosystem partners, we enable next-generation digital transformation to enrich lives, improve businesses, and advance societies. At Qualcomm, we are engineering human progress. Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing busine
Nominations open for The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity 2026 by AEON Environmental Foundation and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity16.1.2026 09:00:00 CET | Press release
The MIDORI Prize recognizes outstanding individual contributions to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversityThe unique prize contributes to raising public awareness of the essential role biodiversity plays for human well-being and in addressing global challenges such as climate changeThe Award Ceremony and Award Winners Forum will be held on 27 August 2026 in Tokyo, Japan The call for nominations for The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity 2026 is open from 2 February to 31 March 2026. Nominations are invited from members of the public through the AEON Environmental Foundation website at https://www.aeonkankyozaidan.or.jp/en/prize/. The Award Ceremony and Award Winners Forum of the 2026 edition of the Prize will be held on 27 August in Tokyo, Japan. These events will contribute to the global mobilization around COP 17 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which will take place in Yerevan (Armenia) under the theme of “Taking action for Nature”. Co-organized by the AEON
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