Germany’s Fraunhofer research organisation is the latest to suggest axing the institute
Europe’s largest applied research organisation, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, has added its voice to calls to axe the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). In a damming paper, the Fraunhofer, which has been involved in seven of the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) set up by the EIT, says it ‘fails to provide added value’ to Europe’s industrial competitiveness. The KICs are Europe-wide networks of higher education, research centres, companies and investors that tackle challenges from clean energy to food systems.
The Fraunhofer has slammed the EIT and its KICs as ‘overly complex, costly and non-transparent’. One of the paper’s authors, Verena Fennemann, an environmental engineer who heads Fraunhofer’s Brussels office, describes a ‘huge administrative load, both in the governance structures and regulatory framework’. Additionally, an emphasis on profits in the later stages of a KIC can make it especially difficult for universities and research organisations, which may have to withdraw as Fraunhofer has done in some cases.