Putting innovation on the right track

Patrick Lambert on a career that led from British Gas to leadership of the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation.

When Patrick Lambert was asked to set up what is now the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI) in 2004, he had no blueprint to follow. It was a case of learning by doing, as the EACI was the first such agency established by the European Commission to manage funding programmes on its behalf. 

“It was very challenging. Everything had to be set up: financial procedures, recruitment, you name it,” Lambert says. “It was a far cry from the organisation today, which is all very sophisticated, with its HR department and smart offices.”

EACI started out by managing a programme called Intelligent Energy – Europe, which funds projects that put the concept of ‘intelligent energy’ into practice. In short, it supports energy efficiency and the uptake of renewable-energy sources. (Among the events that the agency organises is EU Sustainable Energy Week, which this year takes place on 18-22 June.)

Over the years, four more initiatives have been added to EACI’s remit: Marco Polo, which funds projects that transfer freight from Europe’s congested roads to rail, short-sea shipping routes or inland waterways; Eco-innovation, which funds projects promoting a more efficient use of natural resources; the Enterprise Europe Network, whose mission is to help small companies make the most of business opportunities in the EU; and the IPeuropAware project, which aims to provide support and advice about intellectual property rights. The common threads through the programmes are sustainability and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Lambert says.

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Before starting at EACI, Lambert had 20 years of experience in the Commission and before that a decade at British Gas. His first position at the Commission, in 1984, was at the natural-gas unit in the Commission’s energy department. Then he moved on to cover energy policy, international relations, energy efficiency and renewable energies.

Major changes

Lambert’s time in DG 17 (energy) which later merged with DG 7 (transport), to DG Energy and Transport, coincided with a couple of big changes within Europe: the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and EU accession of ten countries in May 2004, mainly from central and eastern Europe. At the start of the 1990s, Lambert travelled eastward a great deal to identify energy projects.

“One year we went to Moscow and discussed projects in the Baltics, in Tajikistan, and so on. A year later and we had 15 separate missions to the newly independent republics,” Lambert says.

Leading up to the EU expansion, Lambert was responsible for the energy and transport chapters for each new country, working closely with the commissioner at the time, Loyola de Palacio.

Today Lambert is well settled in his professional life in Brussels and his home life in Tervuren, where he is president of the local cricket club, a member of the dance club and a regular at Flemish conversation classes. But Lambert had not always been set on a career in the EU. After studying geography at university in the UK, he was accepted onto a graduate trainee programme at British Gas, quickly becoming a manager. “Once you showed your mettle, there were plenty of opportunities to take on responsibility early,” says Lambert.

Working with people

During his ten years at British Gas, Lambert worked in finance, personnel management and customer relations, where he dealt with the public in the wealthy stockbroker belt and the poorer areas of London. He soon realised that working with people was something he truly liked. “A thread for much of my career has been the management of people,” says Lambert. “I enjoy getting the best out of people.”

Today, Lambert is in charge of 160 people. That is three times the number when the agency began. Looking ahead, Lambert is excited about the agency’s future. It is “very likely” that EACI’s legal lifeline will be extended beyond 2015, Lambert says.

“I am very much looking forward to the third chapter of this agency,” says the man who has been there throughout its first two chapters.

Anna Jenkinson is a freelance journalist based in Brussels.