The EU has taken a step closer to setting up its answer to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology by budgeting €308.7m for the project.
EU members agreed in Luxembourg to earmark the money for the nascent European Institute of Technology in their joint budget for the period running from 2008 until 2013.
The money is supposed to cover the costs of the EIT's governing structure and the costs of co-ordinating and bringing together people involved in the first two or three research units, which will make up the institute.
'This is a very important step forward, bringing the EIT closer to lift-off,' European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement.
The money from the EU budget will be complemented by a further €2.1 billion over the 2008-2013 period, which is supposed to come from various other public and private sources.
If the European Parliament gives its agreement later this year to the creation of the EIT, it should be able to begin operating next year.
Hungarian capital Budapest, the south-western Polish city of Wroclaw and Austrian capital Vienna are candidates to host the administrative headquarters of the EIT.
