First governing board of the EIT announced

The 18 members of the initial governing board of the European Institute of Technology (EIT) have been appointed.

All appointees are drawn from the worlds of business, research and higher education in Europe and are leaders in their various fields; the majority have dual academic-industrial backgrounds. They were chosen by an ad hoc independent Identification Committee following a two-stage public consultation.

Providing a collective balance of expertise and experience, the board will be responsible for overall strategy-setting and for the selection, co-ordination and evaluation of the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), the EIT's operational centres.

The appointees are:

• Professor Julia King, Vice-Chancellor of Aston University, Birmingham, UK, member of the UK Government's Technology Strategy Board and a non-executive director of the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills.
• Joao Caraca, Director, Science Department, Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian and Professor, Science and Technology Policy, Instituto Superior Economia e Gestao)
• Dr Manuel Castells, Research Professor, Open University of Catalonia (Barcelona) and University of Southern California (Los Angeles)
• Dr Bertrand Collomb, honorary chairman, Lafarge, and chairman, Institut des Hautes Etudes pour la Science et la Technologie
• Giovanni Colombo, Adjunct Professor, Politecnico di Torino
• Dr Ellen de Brabander, chief scientific officer and head of global r&d, Merial, and board member, European Industrial R&D Management Association)
• Dr Anders Flodstroem, University Chancellor, Swedish National Agency for Higher Education
• Dr Daria Golebiowska-Tataj, founder and managing partner, EMF Consultancy and professor/researcher, Warsaw University of Technology Business School
• Dr Wolfgang Herrmann, president, Technische Universitaet Muenchen
• Morten Loktu, senior vice president, r&d, StatoilHydro
• Dr Karen MAEX, Vice-Rector of Science, Engineering and Technology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
• Dr Balint MAGYAR, former Secretary of State for Development; former Minister of Education; Member, Hungarian Parliament)
• Dr Erna Moeller, executive director, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; Emeritus Professor, Karolinska Institutet; chairman, Nobel Assembly (2007)
• Dr Yrjoe Neuvo, professor, research director, Helsinki University of Technology
• Prof. Dr Martin Schuurmans, former executive vice president, Philips Research/Philips Medical Systems
• Dr Peter Tropschuh, head of AutoUni, Volkswagen AG
• Linnar Viik, director, Skype Technologies, Associate Professor and member of the board, Estonian Information Technology College
• Dr Alexander Ullrich von Gabain, co-founder, cso and member of the management board, Intercell, Professor of Microbiology, Max Perutz Laboratories, Vienna, foreign adjunct professor, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm

"I am delighted with the nomination of the EIT's first governing board," said European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso. "The EIT is soon to become a reality and I am convinced that the excellence and commitment of the Board's members will make it a success."