Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs)

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) finances both educational activities and the valorisation of research.

The EIT is a unique EU initiative that stimulates innovation across Europe by integrating business, education and research into consortia to work on major challenges such as resource efficiency, reinventing urban mobility, ... These consortia are called Knowledge and Innovation Communities, in short KICs.

• A KIC is an independent legal entity (vzw, NV, ....) that is managed as a company and receives financial support from the EIT for a period of at least 7 years. A KIC consists of 5 to 6 co-location centres (CLC), which are spread across Europe and coordinate cooperation in different regions.
• Each KIC receives own funding from the EIT and announces its own calls for proposals for KIC Added Value Activities (KAVA) funded by EIT budgets.
• KIC-members can participate in these calls for proposals and can only in specific cases ask other partners to join a project.

In 2009, the EIT published a first call for establishing KIC’s working on the subjects Energy, Climate Change and Digital. A second call, that closed in 2014, resulted in establishing the KIC’s Raw Materials and Healthy Living and Active Ageing. A third call for Food4Future closed in July 2016 and in 2018 Added-Value Manufacturing and Urban Mobility were added to the list. The EIT announced it is working towards the next KIC in 2022/2023, which will operate in the field of Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI). In 2026, the EIT is planning to launch a new KIC on water, marine and maritime sectors and ecosystems. This will be the 10th KIC in the EIT.

Ghent University and the EIT/KICs

Ghent University is a member of three KICs. Interested in the activities of one of these three KICs or in the themes they cover? Please contact:

• EIT Health: Frederik Vandecasteele
• EIT Raw Materials: Kamila Mascart
• EIT Urban Mobility: Sven Verstrepen

Ghent University is not a member of the other KICs listed below, but can still consider this. 

Interested in the activities of one of these KICs or in the themes they cover? Please contact the EU team.

• EIT Digital
• EIT Climate-KIC
• EIT InnoEnergy
• EIT Food
• EIT Manufacturing

Ghent University EIT-KIC forum October 2019

The EIT has announced that it is working towards the next KIC in 2021 with the theme Cultural and Creative Industries.

That is why the EU team organized an EIT-KIC forum on the future KIC Creative and Cultural Industries on October 3, 2019. The presentations and accompanying reports can be requested at the EU-team

More information

Would you like more information? Please contact Hannes Brouckaert, European Affairs Policy Advisor with the EU team.