SLOVAKIA and Austria want to host the planned European Innovation Institute, the SITA newswire wrote. On April 1, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer signed a joint letter addressed to European Union representatives in which they expressed their interest in hosting the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) in the Bratislava-Vienna development zone.
The new institute, which is intended to ensure the competitiveness of the EU in innovation through the integration of universities, research and industry, will be one of the most important institutions established at the European level in the near future, Fico said. He believes that the EIT will provide fantastic opportunities for universities and research centres. His Austrian counterpart called this joint initiative an excellent example of cooperation between Slovakia and Austria, and Bratislava and Vienna.
Slovakia and Austria have drafted a joint candidacy concept based on the Twin City project, which anticipates a special form of cooperation in the establishment of EIT headquarters between Bratislava and Vienna.
