The Project

THE CONTEXT

It is crucial to examine the issue of cultural change towards entrepreneurial and engaged universities, as there is a little focus placed by Higher Education Institutions (HEI) leaders and professional staff on creating theinstitution-wide culture towards external engagement and entrepreneurship.

The current approach

Many universities are mostly targeting at creating strategies focused on external engagement and entrepreneurship, e.g. through the constitution of innovation centres or the introduction of specific personnel and offices responsible for partnering, knowledge/technology transfer and entrepreneurship.

The gap

These strategies do not directly address the individual academics as the main group expected to be at the forefront of such activities.

THE AIM

Through raising awareness about the benefits of becoming more open, innovative, entrepreneurial and engaged HEIs closely connected to their regions, we aim to enhance the culture of facilitating, supporting and rewarding partnering with commercial and non-commercial organisations in the private sector, especially amongst academic staff.

June 2023 | The collection of case studies

July 2023 | The investigation report

March 2024 | The designed and validated toolkit

Our partnership

Our partnership consists of 4 organisations from 4 countries, each with an intrinsic motivation and strategic interest in developing and using the project results.

The project’s results will be used to drive cultural change towards entrepreneurial activities and external engagement in the 4 organisations, and in particular by UIIN (University-Industry Innovation Network) to facilitate and support that change in the broader HE sector.

All partners have strong experience in Strategic Partnerships and other EU projects, and have collaborated in various constellations, while the lead of the project, UIIN, has extensive experience in coordinating Erasmus+ projects.