This article examines the evolution of the policy narrative created by the European Commission around the establishment of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) in order to rethink and spearhead new processes of innovation in the European Union (EU) through a better coordination of output in academia, research and industry. A discourse analysis was conducted on several key European Commission documents, later formalized into EU regulations, which confer the EIT its legal basis for its operation. By employing a three-fold policy analysis framework, a series of rhetorical devices are extracted to examine the policy framing, dynamics and instruments that operate as motivators for the construction of a persuasive initiative to be set in action in the service of innovation for a more competitive Europe. Through this investigation, a larger agenda is exposed in the EIT's policy framework, with wide implications and significant ramifications for the evolution of European higher education.