The West Midlands is taking a major role in Europe's new world-leading programme to tackle climate change through investments in technology, innovation and people.

Regional Development Agency Advantage West Midlands led work to co-ordinate a successful bid to the new European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), which will see a unique consortium of six regions, including the West Midlands, five of Europe's top universities including Imperial College and ETH Zurich and ten major companies including CISCO, Shell, Thales and Bayer deliver the Knowledge and Innovation Community on climate change, known as 'Climate KIC'.  The initiative is one of three KICs to be established and part-funded by the EIT. 

With €120m requested from the EIT, the partners will contribute roughly five times that amount so that €750m will be invested over the next four years.  The EIT envisages that KICs will last between seven to fifteen years.

At the core of Climate-KIC will be four major new research and innovation programmes on the themes of climate science, low carbon cities, zero-carbon production systems and integrated water management. These programmes will offer advanced training capacity and new skills, create new companies and spin-outs and help develop markets for existing low carbon companies.  Climate-KIC will use the range of projects being developed by the West Midlands and other regions, for example on electric urban mobility as its test-bed  to pilot new innovations in developing the low carbon economy.

As coordinators of the Regional Innovation Implementation Community (RIC) on climate change, Advantage West Midlands has played a critical role in securing the Climate KIC programme, and this week attended the first RIC meeting (in Poland) to address the practical delivery of the ground-breaking initiative.

Advantage West Midlands is also leading a regional partnership to deliver various elements of the Climate-KIC programme including Birmingham and Coventry City Councils, Aston, Birmingham and Warwick Universities, the Midlands Energy Consortium, Qinetiq, Arup, NISP and others.  Climate-KIC will raise the profile and standing of the West Midlands across Europe and demonstrates the leadership provided by Advantage West Midlands in implementing the Government's Low Carbon Transition Plan.

Regional Minster, Ian Austin, said: "This is really welcome news for the West Midlands.  This announcement offers the region a unique opportunity to create low carbon jobs that will help us build our way out of the current recession.

"I want to congratulate Advantage West Midlands for co-ordinating this extraordinary and ambitious bid and also thank partners for their leadership and vision in showing the region the way forward. The spin-off for us in the West Midlands will be new skills, new businesses and helping to develop markets for our existing low carbon companies. This news will be music to the ears of my recently appointed Low Carbon Taskforce who will no doubt be working closely with the bid partners."

Speaking on successful Climate KIC bid, Mick Laverty, Chief Executive at Advantage West Midlands, said: "We are delighted to be working with Imperial College on Europe's trail-blazer on climate change alongside our regional partners from academia, local government and business.  This success is testament to our growing reputation for promoting innovation and excellence in the emerging low-carbon and green technologies and helping the region become a centre of excellence.

"Winning the bid is great news for the West Midlands as a whole and demonstrates our ability to get the right regional players round the table.  The bid was extremely well received and its success shows the West Midlands can win against major European competition.  It was only with the clout and authority of the region behind us, that we were able to bring all the partners together to enter the competition, let alone win it.

"The programme will reinforce our own strategies that invest in innovation, high-value, high tech and low carbon sectors.  We have long recognised the opportunities that exploiting these technologies can provide for the region in terms of jobs growth and increased wealth. 

"It will also give us the kite-mark on climate change that will help other funding applications and make us a magnet for new talent, raising the profile and standing of the West Midlands across Europe.

"Congratulations to all our regional and national partners who have worked closely with us to make this Climate KIC bid such a success."

Birmingham University's Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research and Knowledge Transfer, Professor Judith Petts, said: "This is exciting news for the City and West Midlands and will allow the University of Birmingham to work with other partners across the Region and Europe in supporting the delivery of the Climate KIC.  The University will be able to contribute from its excellent research base to true innovation in low carbon technologies across Europe.  

"We would like to congratulate Advantage West Midlands on their tremendous efforts in successfully pulling together the European regional partnerships.  These are the key to supporting innovation demonstration and the University of Birmingham is delighted to be involved."

Mark Roberts, Strategy Business Director, Energy & Environment, QinetiQ Ltd, said: "We are delighted with today's selection. Our partnership in the regional climate KIC will leverage real value from combined knowledge of technology and innovation. This marks a positive step in tackling future climate change issues and delivering successful mitigation solutions, which, at QinetiQ, we are committed to achieving throughout the energy and environment market."

Helen Fletcher, Midlands Energy Consortium Manager, said: "This is great news for the Midlands and complements the work we have been doing at the Midlands Energy Consortium.  In particular, the Climate-KIC's pioneering education programmes will support our new Midlands Energy Graduate School to develop a new generation of highly-skilled specialists in the low carbon economy.  We congratulate AWM for being able to provide strong regional leadership on this important issue."

Cllr Paul Tilsley, Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: "I have strongly supported this imitative on behalf of Birmingham City Council over the last 14 months - and in partnership with AWM we will be a prominent partner in testing new ideas and innovation. 

"The project has a practical focus and recognises that tackling climate change requires a range of new capabilities and skills, as we are trying to do at the city council via our recently approved Birmingham Declaration on climate change. 

"The project will deliver a major programme on low carbon cities which will be an integral part of delivering our climate change commitments for 2026 and also follows hot on the heels of the launch in Birmingham of the UK's largest electric vehicle demonstration project last weekend."

Mary Ritter, Pro-Rector, Imperial College, said: "Bringing research institutes, companies and regions together has been crucial to our bid.  I look forward to Imperial College working with colleagues in the West Midlands on low-carbon innovations over the coming years."

Neil Butcher, Engineering Manager, Ove Arup & Partners, said: "This is a well-deserved reward for our region, and for Advantage West Midlands who have been instrumental in promoting the low carbon agenda in the UK. It is a fantastic opportunity to strengthen our position by linking to the leading regions in Europe.

The success will encourage international cooperation between academia and industry, and fits well with Arup's desire to shape a better world by sharing best practice on sustainable buildings, cities, infrastructure and transport."

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, welcomed the decision:  "The selection of the first Knowledge and Innovation Communities is a further milestone towards a more innovative Europe. I am looking forward to the KICs to become innovation hotspots that attract the brightest talents from Europe and beyond. They should develop into the 'places to be' for those students, researchers, and entrepreneurs who want to work together in areas of high relevance for our common future."