EuroTech Universities is located on the eighth floor at Square de Meeûs in Brussels. A small rectangular park, scantly adorned with a golden angel on a concrete pedestal in honor of the Flemish sculptor Juliaan Dillens. The gray green and the bald trees are overshadowed by faceless office blocks. There is hardly a trace of the bubbling city of Brussels to be seen. Still, that is not what the four universities of technology are aiming for. This place was chosen for strategic reasons in particular, at just a few hundred meters’ distance from the European Parliament, surrounded by the international departments and institutes that matter. Lobbying is just a short walk away.

Dr. Andrew Sors and Emily Parker form the permanent staffing in Brussels. Once every month, like today, all other members are also present for the monthly meeting. Sors in 1982 traded in a university career in Great Britain for a job as a Commission official (starting with environmental research) in Brussels. “I gradually shifted from the management of natural and science technology projects towards the management of more science policy related projects.” Sors and Parker (working part-time) begin literally empty-handed. There is no business plan, no outlined strategy and no period within which a carefully circumscribed goal must have been achieved. Only an empty office that has been opened by four enthusiastic heads of universities. “It would be unfair to take it to account for this straight away”, Parker thinks. “There was nothing or nobody in Brussels yet. You need to give this project some time to develop and see which way things will go.”

Sors expects that it is this very commitment of the four universities which will be the key to success. “EuroTech Universities distinguishes itself from other university lobby groups because the alliance had existed several years before the opening of an office in Brussels. Their collaboration in the areas of research and education nourished their conviction that they have the legitimacy to influence and assist in the European innovation and research policy.”

Every seven years the European Union drafts a policy program. In 2014 the budget for the next period should be ready. Sors: “With one thousand participations the four universities have secured around five hundred million euro in European research funds over the past five years. As national governments are keeping a tight hand on their purses, the pressure on those subsidies is greater than ever. Everybody feels that.”

This is true for the Netherlands as well, where direct funding is waning and a redistribution of the scientific budget is taking place. For researchers it is becoming more and more difficult to finance their work, says Gerard Verschuren from the Innovation Lab. He is in Brussels two days a week as a representative of TU/e. During the other working days he tries to explain in Eindhoven what is going on in Brussels. “The EU is really coming alive within TU/e, especially now that financial resources in the Netherlands are drying up. Whereas we are reasonably successful in applying for European research funds, this effort is hardly backed up by a strategy. This office is a good instrument for the development of such a strategy. In Brussels we have rather few people in the right place with important agencies. EuroTech Universities can help in that respect.”

Indeed, the alliance it is not merely in it for research funds, as Verschuren emphasizes. The four universities also wish to enhance their visibility, and consequently their influence, in Brussels. Sors thinks that although there are wise people working at the universities ‘Brussels often does not understand them’. EuroTech Universities wants to voice more clearly what the work and the vision of the alliance entail. It is not yet entirely clear in what way this should be accomplished.

Sors: “I see us as ‘knowledge brokers’ who relay the message of the universities of technology to the European institutes. And in turn inform the universities of technology about the innovation and research policy of Brussels, so that they can align their strategy to it. As knowledge brokers we are not so much pursuing a specific goal, we rather provide a strategic vision. How we can bring about a sustainable Europe by means of research into smart cities and smart mobility. What technological solutions there are for social issues. EuroTech Universities already has a voice in Europe, but it needs to be more pronounced, especially when you consider that research and innovation are linked more emphatically to the challenges facing Europe. We want to show that our alliance is of use to society and can play a leading role in the EU. The best universities of technology of Europe have committed themselves to combining their competencies in a unique collaboration. It is an exciting experiment that will help European society to promote sustainable growth.”

Sors leaves aside whether this alliance will continue to count four universities of technology. According to him a small company, cooperating closely, can often act more decisively than a large group of universities. Thereby he seems to indicate his preference in a roundabout way. “No, we are not exclusive, nor do we work behind closed doors. It is up to the universities to determine whether the alliance will be expanded. Our criterion is excellence. That gives us the legitimacy and the esteem to talk along about the European research policy which indirectly leverages national research programs.”