2014 Call for KICs

Call for KICs

As foreseen in the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s 2014 Call for KIC proposals, the submission and evaluation of the proposals was concluded and two new KICs were designated in December 2014:

  • EIT Health - addressing the theme of innovation for healthy living and active ageing; and
  • EIT Raw Materials - addressing the theme of raw materials - sustainable exploration, extraction, processing, recycling and substitution.

The Governing Board decision on the designation can be read here.

The Independent Observer's Report can be read here.

The 2014 Call for KICs

This section of the EIT website is dedicated to the 2014 KIC Call. Information about the application process is no longer available as the application deadline has now passed. 

As established in the EIT’s Strategic Innovation Agenda (SIA) and Horizon 2020, the first two new KICs, to be established in 2014, were to address the thematic fields of:

  • Innovation for healthy living and active ageing; and
  • Raw materials: sustainable exploration, extraction, processing, recycling and substitution.

The first step in the process leading to the designation of the new KICs in December 2014 was the publication of the Selection Criteria. These criteria build on the principles set in the EIT Regulation and the EIT's core values of impact, excellence and partnership. Aligned with the EIT's mission, these criteria ensure that the designated KICs have all the elements that make a KIC a KIC.

The launch of the Call took place on 14 February 2014. All related documents can be found below.

Outcome of the 2014 Call

The winners were announced on 9 December 2014.

InnoLife – winner of EIT Health (healthy living and active ageing) – is a consortium of more than 50 partners (and in addition 90 associate organisations) of leading businesses, research centres and universities from 9 EU countries, including Abbott Laboratories from Spain, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and the University of Oxford from the UK. Dr. Ursula Redeker from Roche Diagnostics GmbH, the key coordinating partner, said 'We are thrilled to win the EIT’s call. Our partnership’s goal is to promote entrepreneurship and develop innovations in healthy living and active ageing, providing Europe with new opportunities and resources. We will achieve this by delivering products, services and concepts that will improve quality of life and contribute to the sustainability of healthcare across Europe. Our partners represent top excellence and our outreach activities will spread all over Europe. By 2018, we are aiming to create, among others, 70 start-ups per year and have 1 000 000 students participating in our educational online programmes per year.'

RawMatTERS – winner of EIT Raw Materials (sustainable exploration, extraction, processing, recycling and substitution) – brings together more than 100 partners from 20 EU Member States, including the KGHM Polish Copper S.A. from Poland, the RISE Research Institute of Sweden and the University of Milano-Bicocca from Italy. Prof. Jens Gutzmer from Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, the key coordinating partner said 'The EIT will enable our partnership to make a real societal change and to turn the challenge of raw materials dependence into a strategic strength for Europe. Our goal is to boost the competitiveness, growth and attractiveness of the European raw materials sector via radical innovation and entrepreneurship. We want to focus on sustainable growth and job creation by boosting start-ups, SMEs and education; and we are the strongest consortium ever created in the raw materials field. By 2022, we are aiming to create, among others, 64 start-ups and 5 new primary/secondary sources of critical raw materials (CRM).'

'With the support of the EIT and funds from Horizon 2020, these partnerships have a great opportunity to attract the best researchers, students and entrepreneurs. This will be crucial to ensure that they contribute to our efforts to improve Europe’s innovation capacity and competitiveness,' said Commissioner Tibor Navracsics.

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