The Governing Board of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT) has announced the continuation of the ‘EIT Higher Education Institutions (HEI) Initiative’.
Due to the remarkable achievement of the programme’s pilot phase the EIT HEI Initiative will now be extended until 2027. The EIT HEI Initiative supports systemic transformations within universities to steer their research and innovation strategies beyond the classroom to address some of the biggest global challenges.
As Europe’s largest and most experienced innovation ecosystem, the EIT created a dedicated programme: the EIT HEI Initiative to unlock the full innovation and entrepreneurship potential of higher education institutions (HEIs). During the programme’s pilot phase, 359 HEIs and 179 non-academic were supported with EUR 69 million. Across 65 projects, more than 40 000 students, academic staff, and non-academic staff received training in innovation and entrepreneurship and over 1 000 start-ups and scale-ups received support.
The EIT HEI Initiative and its network of over 500 organisations, was also instrumental in providing support to Ukraine and its partners during the past two years. Thanks to the quick mobilisation of the EIT Community, close to EUR 4 million was channeled support 35 Ukrainian HEIs and 6 non-academic oraganisations, connecting them to new partners in Europe and expanding their expertise and knowledge on entrepreneurship.
One of the initiative’s standout pilot projects, Inno-EUt+, has had a transformative impact on the HEIs involved. Other successful projects spotlights include RiEcoLab (lead partner University of Łódź) that is reinventing how research and development is conducted, ensuring quick commercialisation (spin-offs) and engagement of regional stakeholders. Another example is Inno4YUFE (lead partner Maastricht University) who have been instrumental in introducing new curriculum design, for instance, including internships in universities’ entrepreneurial ecosystems.
The decision to extend the EIT HEI Initiative signifies the EIT’s a commitment to further empowering European HEIs. In its post-pilot phase, the initiative will deepen synergies with EIT educational activities, consolidating the gains made during the pilot but also incorporate new HEIs into the existing network, fostering a collaborative environment that transcends geographical boundaries.
Visit the EIT HEI Initiative website to learn more about the initiatives and explore all 65 projects.
