The European Investment Bank channels most of its institutional relations with Universities through an EIB-Universities Research Action consisting of three different programmes:

  • EIBURS, the EIB University Research Sponsorship Programme,
  • STAREBEI  (STAges de REcherche BEI), a programme for financing young researchers working on joint EIB-University projects, and
  • EIB University Networks, a co-operation mechanism for university networks showing characteristics that are of particular relevance to support the objectives of the EIB Group.

EIBURS provides grants to University Research Centres working on research topics and themes of major interest to the Bank. EIB sponsorships, of up to EUR 100 000 per year for a period of three years, are awarded through a competitive process to interested University Departments or Research Centres, associated with Universities of EU, Accession or Acceding Countries, with recognised expertise in EIB-selected areas, so they can expand their activities in these areas. The successful proposal will entail the delivery of a variety of outputs (research, organisation of courses and seminars, networking, dissemination of results, etc.) that will be the subject of a contractual agreement with the Bank.

For the academic year 2008/2009, the EIBURS programme has selected two new lines of research:

  • Financing Young Innovative Firms in Europe

The University Centre receiving the EIBURS on this line of research is expected to be involved in advanced research related to possible finance constraints on young innovative firms in Europe. In comparison to the US, relatively few European start-ups grow into large successful companies. The main objective of this project is to analyze to which extent finance plays a role in this result. Typical aspects of this line of research would be to model and measure the finance constraint, to distinguish between different types of finance (venture capital, mezzanine finance etc.), and to formulate public policy recommendations.  The project may involve any additional activity that the University Centre would be ready to undertake with the sponsorship in the line of research, including inter alia (i) organization of courses and seminars, (ii) creation of databases and surveys.

  • Infrastructure Funds

Alongside the explosion of the private equity industry and the popularity of alternative asset classes, infrastructure funds have grown explosively in number and size in the past years. Infrastructure funds have, however, so far received virtually no attention from academic researchers. The University Research Centre receiving support under the EIBURS would be expected to set up a research programme focused on analysing the drivers of infrastructure funds and their impact on the market for infrastructure finance as well as related public policy issues. Specifically, the research programme would address the reasons for the growth of the market for infrastructure assets and the role of infrastructure funds in it; the impact and importance of infrastructure funds for infrastructure finance in Europe; the risks associated with infrastructure funds; and the scope for public policy intervention in regulating infrastructure funds.  The project may involve any additional activity that the University Centre would be ready to undertake with the sponsorship in the line of research, including inter alia (i) organization of courses and seminars, (ii) creation of databases and surveys.

The deadline for presentation of proposals is 15th September 2008. Proposals submitted after this deadline will not be considered. Proposals should be sent to:

EIB-Universities Research Action
100, boulevard Konrad Adenauer
L 2950 Luxembourg
To the attention of Mr Mateu Turró, Co-ordinator.