Director of EU-LIFE institute VIB, Jo Bury selected as member of the EIC Pilot Advisory Board

Today, Jo Bury, managing director of the EU-LIFE member institute VIB, the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, has been appointed by the EU Commission among 22 exceptional innovators from the worlds of entrepreneurship, venture capital, science and technology as member of the European Innovation Council Advisory Board.

The European Innovation Council is a key novelty of Horizon Europe – the next EU research and innovation programme for 2021-2027 – and is part of a wider ecosystem that the EU is putting in place to give Europe’s many entrepreneurs every opportunity to become world leading companies. The aim of EIC is to turn science into new business and accelerate the scale-up of innovative companies. Currently in its pilot phase, the European Innovation Council will become a full-fledged reality from 2021 under Horizon Europe with a proposed € 10 billion budget.

The newly advisory board will guide EIC in realizing its goals. As part of this prestigious EIC Pilot Advisory Board, Jo Bury will advise the EIC on the strategy and systems used to identify and support the most promising science and technology that will be important to shape the future of Europe. This is a great honor for EU-LIFE alliance and acknowledgement of its members’ excellence and leadership in science.

"With the EIC, we are filling a critical funding gap in the innovation ecosystem and putting Europe at the forefront of market creating innovation. I am delighted that the EIC will be advised by some of Europe’s most accomplished innovators and investors, and that we will be bringing in talented programme managers to get the work off the ground" said Carlos Moedas, the EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation.