A small alliance of technical universities has become one of the latest residents in the Square de Meeus in Brussels. Laura Greenhalgh went to find out what the four EuroTech Universities have up their sleeves.
As I arrive at the brand new premises in the centre of the Brussels political quarter, it is clear the EuroTech Universities alliance has chosen its location well. A stone’s throw from the European Parliament, the alliance shares the square with the European Commission’s directorate-general for research and several permanent representations of member states, as well as numerous lobby groups.
The alliance itself is a venture between four technical institutions: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Technical University of Denmark and Technische Universitat München. Based on historical allegiances, EuroTech was formally launched in 2011 when the presidents of the four institutions signed a contract to create the alliance
EuroTech’s motto is “finding technical solutions which address grand societal challenges”, but after only a short time in its Brussels office, it is clear the group’s ambitions extend far beyond excellence in research.
“It’s important that the voice of technical universities is articulated on the European stage,” says Andrew Sors, head of the Brussels office. “At the moment, the League of European Research Universities is very strong and of course they have a particular view about EU policies. Technical universities have different views.”
EuroTech’s EU office, inaugurated in October 2012, demonstrates a tangible commitment to this aim. Headed up by Sors, who has worked for the Commission’s DG research for 23 years, the office also has a part-time adviser and four liaison officers, one from each institution.
“Our value is in what technical universities do best: linking research, innovation and education, addressing societal challenges, and safeguarding excellence, open access and publishing while making fruitful links with industry,” says Sors.
For Horizon 2020, the group intends to target implementation issues such as the Commission’s proposal to link industrial technologies with societal challenges under certain focus areas. “This idea that you take these 12 strategic areas and then somehow develop projects that integrate research, innovation and upstream activities—that’s a real challenge for the framework programme,” says Sors. “We will have something to say on that.”
EuroTech’s Brussels office does not have to worry about increasing participation in Horizon 2020. Aided by EU research offices at the home institutions, the four universities have together received more than €500 million from Framework 7 and all rank within the programme’s top 50 participants. But collaboration is still an important focus of the alliance’s aims.
At present, joint projects are confined to green technology, with universities providing both seed money and PhD students for projects in three specific areas. “That may lead to EU funding, or it might not,” says Sors.
“We don’t coordinate the research collaboration, but what we do is try to make sure that what is done throughout the alliance is informed by what is going on in Europe,” he adds. The alliance is developing a catalogue of Framework 7 participants to help researchers search for partners from other institutions, and the Brussels office also acts as a central meeting place.
EuroTech is considering the development of a joint doctoral school to add to the masters courses already shared between the institutions, for which Sors says there is “especially strong interest”. This is part of preparations for a EuroTech statement of intent on the European Research Area, which is to demonstrate the institutions’ commitment to ERA and set out targets for the four institutions to achieve by 2014.
That is not to say that bringing institutions from Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland together has been plain sailing. “The universities have their own character, and they’re not going to become one institute tomorrow,” says Sors. “Certain commitments that might have been possible for one, two or three partners aren’t possible for all.”
But despite the challenges, the four institutions clearly feel there is space for a smaller alliance alongside larger university groups. Compared with the 21 members of Leru, and the 860 universities represented by the European Universities Association, four is a small number. But Sors argues these four universities are among the strongest in Europe, meaning they have a legitimate voice.
“I think we can go deeper than the larger alliances,” says Sors. “The four institutions know and trust each other, which means it’s easier to exchange best practices and be honest about what works and doesn’t work.”
So would the alliance consider expanding? “There are plans to move to maybe five or six members, but if it was much more than that, the presidents of the universities feel it would dilute the alliance,” says Sors. EuroTech is clearly a small group with big ambition. It just remains to be seen how much it can achieve.
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