Roberto Verganti at House of Innovation to European Innovation Council Advisory Board
Today, the Commission has appointed 22 exceptional innovators from the worlds of entrepreneurship, venture capital, science and technology to the European Innovation Council Advisory Board, which will provide strategic leadership to the European Innovation Council (EIC). The Board will oversee the roll out of the current pilot and lead the strategy and design of the EIC under Horizon Europe.
"I am very proud to have one of our senior faculty members appointed to such an important role. The purpose of the House of Innovation is to contribute to society in the fields of innovation, entrepreneurship and digitalization, and it is my belief that the appointment of Roberto Verganti to the EIC Advisory Board will strengthen this contribution", says Magnus Mähring, Head of House of Innovation.
Roberto Verganti is a newly recruited senior faculty member at the SSE House of Innovation. Roberto’s research focuses on how leaders and organizations create meaningful innovations. His studies lie at the intersection between leadership, design and technology management.
“The combination of my new role at the SSE House of Innovation and at the EIC is a win-win opportunity. Being in Stockholm, I will have the chance to have a fresh and direct touch with one of the most lively entrepreneurial communities in the world, and bring insights from this context into the way the EIC could work. And vice-versa, my hope is to bring learnings from the EIC to help the local community grow even more”, says Roberto Verganti
Members of EIC Advisory Board*
Mark Ferguson, Entrepreneur, Science Foundation Ireland (Chair)
Herman Hauser, Co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners (Vice-chair)
Kerstin Bock, CEO of Openers
Jo Bury, Managing Director of Flanders Institute of Biotechnology
Dermot Diamond, Principal Investigator: INSIGHT Centre for Data Analytics, Dublin City University
Laura González Estéfani, Founder and CEO at TheVentureCity
Jim Hagemann Snabe, Chair Siemens AG, Chair A P Moller Maersk A/S
Ingmar Hoerr, Co-founder and CEO of CureVac
Fredrik Horstedt, Vice president of utilisation Chalmers University of Technology
Heidi Kakko, Partner of BaltCap Growth Fund
Bindi Karia, European Innovation Expert + Advisor, Connector of People and Businesses
Anita Krohn Traaseth, Former CEO Innovation Norway
Jerzy M. Langer, Physicist, Emeritus Professor at the Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Ana Maiques, Chief Executive Officer, Neuroelectrics
Marja Makarow, Biochemistry/molecular biology, director of Biocenter Finland
Valeria Nicolosi, Chair of Nanomaterials and Advanced Microscopy
Carlos Oliveira, Serial Entrepreneur, Innovator, Executive President of José Neves Foundation (Farfetch founder)
Bruno Sportisse, Chair and CEO at INRIA
Kinga Stanislawka, Managing Partner and Founder of Experior Venture Fund
Roberto Verganti, Innovation academic, SSE House of Innovation, former RISE group
Martin Villig, Co-founder of Bolt (formerly Taxify)
Yousef Yousef, CEO of LG Sonic
*official membership is subject to finalisation of internal procedures
Background
In June 2018, the Commission proposed the most ambitious Research and Innovation programme yet, Horizon Europe, with a proposed budget of €100 billion for 2021-2027. In March 2019 the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a provisional agreement on Horizon Europe. A key novelty of Horizon Europe is the establishment of a European Innovation Council with a proposed budget of €10 billion. An agreement of the European Parliament and Council on the EIC was reached as part of the Common Understanding on Horizon Europe.
A first pilot phase of the EIC was launched in October 2017, followed by a reinforced pilot in March 2019, with an overall budget of €3 billion, and the objective of funding Europe’s most exciting innovations of our most talented innovators. The new Advisory Board is part of the reinforced pilot. Members were selected following an open call for expressions of interest, which resulted in over 600 applications.
The European Innovation Council is part of a wider ecosystem that the EU is putting in place to give Europe's many entrepreneurs every opportunity to become world leading companies. Other initiatives include a Pan-European Venture Capital Funds-of-Funds programme (VentureEU), the Investment Plan for Europe (EFSI), the work of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology, the Capital Markets Union Action Plan to improve access to finance or the proposal for a Directive on business insolvency.
Further links
Press release: launch of the pilot phase of the European Innovation Council
Press release: pilot phase of the European Innovation Council
Press release: provisional agreement on Horizon Europe
Statement by Commissioner Moedas on the European Parliament’s vote on Horizon Europe
