Europe losing research edge says Patten

Nature : Chris Patten, chancellor of the Universities of Oxford and of Newcastle in the UK, recently gave a speech to the Academy of Technologies in Paris, France in which he calls for caution in the establishment of a European Institute of Technology, modeled on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Will the EIT be a real institution or a “virtual body, promoting yet more networking?” he asks. Patten claims that Europe doesn’t need a new institution, just better funding of some of the existing universities and research institutions.