The area called “Validation & Acceleration” corresponds to what the EIT calls the “research” area. It covers activities aimed at developing technologies and at validating the feasibility of transforming the outcome of upstream research into marketable innovation, and at accelerating this transformation. The area is composed of two major segments:

  1. Networks of Infrastructure organise structured pools of labs, modelling and pilot facilities across Europe as required to enable the research and innovation activities of the academic, research and industrial community.
  2. Up-scaling Projects that aim at developing new technologies and at transforming them into innovative market solutions. In 2016 it is planned to have more than 80 of the over 100 partners to participate in Up-scaling Projects and to run at least two projects per CLC. The focus of the area will also be on actively involving at least five SMEs as third parties into the Validation & Acceleration projects.