The EIT ICT Labs innovation catalysts are the key instruments in achieving our strategy. The innovation catalysts address instances of the “knowledge triangle” and the interfaces between education, research and business.Each one is catalytic to innovations and in its own way addressing a specific bottleneck for speeding up innovation and its implementation.

EIT ICT Labs actions usually involve more than one leg of the knowledge triangle. Strong collaboration between Education, Research and Business is essential for speeding up ICT innovation in Europe. Developing, applying and evaluating innovation catalysts are at the core of EIT ICT Labs operations and the evolution of the catalyst set is key to the EIT ICT Labs’ annual strategy process.

Carrier activities are the foundation of EIT ICT Labs’ work, to which innovation catalysts are applied. The carrier activities are frequently co-funded research projects, co-funded educational programmes and business programmes.

To be eligible for inclusion into the EIT ICT Labs portfolio, the transformation of a carrier activity by the application of an EIT ICT Labs catalyst should create significant added value towards the European innovation agenda and the goals of EIT.