Dean of Esade Alfons Sauquet, new member of EIT Executive Committee
The Executive Committee and the Governing Board are responsible for strategic management of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.
BY BIOCAT
Dean of Esade Business School Alfons Sauquet has been named member of the Executive Committee of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). He is the second representative of Spain in this organization, in addition to professor Manuel Castells.
The EIT governing bodies –the Governing Board and the Executive Committee- are responsible for strategic management of the Institute, which includes laying out the Strategic Innovation Agenda (SIA) and coordinating the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (creating, assessing and selecting winners of calls for bids and providing support during the implementation of the selected KICs).
Alfons Sauquet: “I hope to help make European research applicable to real life for both people and companies. Science and business must be more connected "
Noteworthy achievements on Sauquet’s extensive curriculum include his positions as a member of the academic board of the Association for Human Resources Management in International Organizations (AHRMIO), head researcher in the Learning and Knowledge in Organizations Research Group (GRACO) and advisor to the Ministry of Education and Science and the Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien for programs for quality education.
As an expert in processes of applying innovation in organizations, professor Sauquet’s task is to bring a broker’s profile to the EIT culture, helping "transform research into innovation and innovation into business", in the Dean’s own words. “I hope to help make European research applicable to real life for both people and their companies. Science and business must be more connected,” added Sauquet.
The EIT is the European Commission’s most important and well-funded commitment to driving European competitiveness and leadership in innovation, thus facing up to the continent’s main competitors: United States, Canada and Japan. The EIT is Europe’s first initiative to integrate all three areas of the knowledge triangle –education, research and innovation– in order to do just what professor Sauquet explained, transform ideas and knowledge into business opportunities.