EU agrees to earmark EUR 308m for research institute
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(LUXEMBOURG) - The European Union took a step closer on Monday to setting up its answer to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology by budgeting 308.7 million euros (415.2 million dollars) for the project.
EU members agreed in Luxembourg to earmark the money for the nascent European Institute of Technology in their joint budget for the period running from 2008 until 2013.
The money is supposed to cover the costs of the EIT's governing structure and the costs of coordinating and bringing together people involved in the first two or three research units, which will make up the campus-less institute.
"This is a very important step forward, bringing the EIT closer to lift-off," European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement.
"By strengthening Europe's capacity to bridge the innovation gap with its major competitors, the EIT will help drive a Europe of results," he added.
The money from the EU budget will be complemented by a further 2.1 billion euros over the 2008-2013 period, which is supposed to come from various other public and private sources.
The project has faced frequent criticism from its inception for being another costly research project which does not solve the main problem of European research: a lack of money.
If the European Parliament gives its agreement later this year to the creation of the EIT, it should be able to begin operating next year.
Hungarian capital Budapest, the southwestern Polish city of Wroclaw and Austrian capital Vienna are candidates to host the administrative headquarters of the EIT.
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