The EIT is a body of the European Union established in March 2008. The EIT mission is to increase European sustainable growth and competitiveness by reinforcing the innovation capacity of the EU. It was set up in order to ‘address Europe's innovation gap’, and is the EU's flagship education institute designed to assist innovation, research and growth in the European Union. The idea of a European Institute of Innovation and Technology has been developed within the framework of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs, and has been specifically implemented to address Europe’s innovation shortcomings. It is based on the concept that innovation is the a key-driver of growth, competitiveness and thus social wellbeing in the 21st century. The EIT has established its headquarters in Budapest in April 2010. The EIT is not a research centre and does not directly contribute to financing individual projects. Instead, it provides grants to so-called "Knowledge and Innovation Communities", composed of networks of existing businesses, research institutes and education institutions or universities which work together around innovation projects and assist or fund individual innovators and entrepreneurs, all over Europe. The three first innovation communities of the EIT have been selected in December 2009 and are established in co-location centres (i.e. places where they can physically work together) in France, Germany, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Belgium and Poland.

Source: EIT