EU Climate Partnership Chief Executive: Private, Public and Academic Sectors Can Beat Climate Change Together

LONDON, April 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Collaboration between the private, public and academic sectors is essential for developing new solutions to stop further climate change, says Mary Ritter, Chief Executive Officer of the European Union's main climate innovation initiative Climate-KIC. 

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Mary Ritter responds to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on climate change mitigation by calling for greater collaboration between the private, public and academic sectors to develop new solutions to stop further climate change.

"The latest IPCC report sets out the options available to stop further climate change. Now it's up to the private, public and academic sectors to come together and collaborate on new solutions. Only by harnessing these networks will we reach the solutions - large and small, local and global - that we need," says Ritter.

"The good news is that major scientific and entrepreneurial efforts to stop further change are already well under way. At Climate-KIC we are supporting hundreds of companies and projects across Europe that are focused on overcoming the challenges of climate change in a variety of ways," she says.

"To address climate change the most important role national, regional and global bodies can play is in creating the opportunities for innovators. There is no silver bullet for climate change - the solutions will come in many forms from researchers and businesses all over the world," says Ritter.

Ritter stresses: "Solutions to deal with climate change must address both adaptation and mitigation. We must prevent further damage, but we also have to deal with the impact of climate change that has already taken place."

Pan-European footprint 

Climate-KIC has its headquarters in London, UK, and leverages its centres across Europe to support start-up companies, to bring together partners on innovation projects and to educate students to bring about a connected, creative transformation of knowledge and ideas into products and services that help mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Climate-KIC currently has centres in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK, a Nordic centre in Denmark and is represented in the European regions of Valencia, Central Hungary, Emilia Romagna, Lower Silesia, Hessen and the West Midlands.

The EU's main climate innovation initiative 

Climate-KIC is the EU's main climate innovation initiative. It is Europe's largest public-private innovation partnership focused on mitigating and adapting to climate change. Climate-KIC consists of companies, academic institutions and the public sector and - next to its open innovation and education efforts - runs the world's largest climate specific start-up accelerator.

The public-private partnership is partially funded by the European Commission through its European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) - which has confirmed an initial €63 million grant for 2014 - and receives financial and in-kind support from over 200 businesses, universities and public bodies across Europe.

Contact
Angela Howarth
Head of Communications, Climate-KIC
angela.howarth@climate-kic.org
Phone: +44(0)20-7492-1972
Mobile: +44(0)7872-850-084