Today is a big day for the European Innovation Council (EIC), with Dr. Michiel Scheffer beginning his term as President of the EIC Board. He will spearhead a diverse set of actors to advise on an innovator-centric programme; I am confident that having Dr. Scheffer as a full-time EIC Board President will have many positive effects for the European deep tech community, and for citizens and society at large, the real beneficiaries of game-changing innovation.

A Dutch national with over 20 years of multidisciplinary experience corresponding with the multidisciplinary nature of the innovation chain, Dr.Scheffer has worked in science and academia - having written scientific articles and acted as a guest lecturer in many universities - and founded and led two successful innovation-focussed companies - Polisema BV and Noéton Policy in Innovation BV. Other strings to his bow include extensive knowledge of EU funding and Dutch and European public affairs, as well as fluency in five European languages of Dutch, English, French, German and Italian.

While we give a warm welcome to our new President, we send a heartfelt thank you to Mark Ferguson who has chaired the previous two boards (from 2019 – 2021, and from 2021 until now), and will now act as a member of the board. Mark has been a powerful driving force behind the design of the EIC as we now know it; the Board’s Vision and Roadmap for the European Innovation Council provided the cornerstone of the EIC in Horizon Europe, and more recently the Strategic Goals and Key Performance Indicators provide a constant reminder of what it is we are aiming to achieve and how to measure progress.  We look forward to continuing our work with Mark as a member of the EIC Board.

Thank you – as always – for your attention and support.

With kindest regards,

Jean-David Malo.

Director of European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency