Boosting Digital Innovation and Transformation Capacity of HEIs in an Entrepreneurial ecosystem

Digital innovation has radically changed the nature and structure of new products and services. It has generated novel value-creation and value-appropriation pathways, enabled innovation collectives that involve dynamic sets of actors with diverse goals and capabilities, produced a new breed of innovation processes and, more broadly, transformed entire industries in its wake.

The challenges that societies face are many and complex. Social, political and economic agents of modern societies (such as higher education institutions, or HEIs, governmental bodies, and businesses) need to demonstrate proactive and entrepreneurial behaviour, creativity in the definition of digital strategies that address economic and social needs, and the courage to make difficult decisions.

The DIN-ECO project will support the implementation of Digital Innovation Vision Action Plans (DIVAPs) by HEIs of the consortium. The DIN-ECO DIVAPs will be implemented to:

- enhance the scale and scope of student engagement activities, including improving student support offices to advise on entrepreneurship and innovation;
- set up or improve organisational units and/or entities, such as technology transfer offices, to develop collaborations for technology transfer;
- promote collaboration with the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), e.g. through peer-to-peer collaboration;
- create structures and conditions for innovation-driven research;
- develop or improve innovation and entrepreneurial curricula;
- allow for the continuous assessment of teaching and learning practices.

The project’s general objective is to increase the innovation and entrepreneurial capacity of the participating HEIs and enable their integration into European innovation value chains and ecosystems.

DIN-ECO’s specific objectives are to:

- set up or expand structures within HEIs to enhance students’ digital skills and capacities in innovation and entrepreneurship – Phase 1;
- set up or expand processes within HEIs to facilitate the knowledge and innovation transfer from universities to the market and policymaking centres, and vice versa (like technology transfer offices) – Phase 1;
- foster the collaboration between HEIs, especially between HEI KIC members, the Enterprise KIC members and non-KIC members, for exchange of knowledge and good practices in entrepreneurship and innovation – set up in Phase 1 and expand in Phase 2;
- create mechanisms for innovation-driven research resulting from collaboration with the partners of the consortium coming from the industry – Phase 2;
- introduce, support and enhance entrepreneurial and innovation studies in HEIs through the re-orientation of existing curricula and new education programs – Phase 2;
- support the HEI’s continuous self-assessment of the impact produced by the implemented DIVAP’s actions – Phase 2.