News

from TUM-International

New project launches to accelerate the future potential of Higher Education Institutions

A new rese­arch and inno­va­ti­on pro­ject, Acce­le­ra­te Future HEI, which focu­ses on sup­port­ing and enhan­cing the capa­bi­li­ty of hig­her edu­ca­ti­on insti­tu­ti­ons (HEIs), laun­ched in Ams­ter­dam on Janu­ary 18th, 2023.
Hig­her Edu­ca­ti­on Insti­tu­ti­ons (HEIs) can posi­tively impact regio­nal and Euro­pe-wide social and eco­no­mic deve­lo­p­ment through edu­ca­ti­on, rese­arch and enga­ge­ment. Howe­ver, they requi­re tar­ge­ted sup­port to enhan­ce their capa­bi­li­ty to ful­ly rea­li­se their poten­ti­al. Acce­le­ra­te Future HEI will deve­lop and test acce­le­ra­ti­on ser­vices, to equip HEIs with the skills and capa­ci­ty to dri­ve their insti­tu­tio­nal trans­for­ma­ti­on towards beco­ming more entre­pre­neu­ri­al and inno­va­ti­ve insti­tu­ti­ons over the next four years.
Hos­ted by the lead part­ner, Uni­ver­si­ty Indus­try Inno­va­ti­on Net­work (UIIN), the ambi­tious pro­ject brings tog­e­ther twel­ve Euro­pean part­ners to deve­lop and imple­ment acce­le­ra­ti­on ser­vices. Spea­king as the part­ners met for the first time in Ams­ter­dam, Sarah Jaber, Busi­ness Deve­lo­p­ment Mana­ger, UIIN, explains, “The­re will be many oppor­tu­ni­ties to get invol­ved and bene­fit from Acce­le­ra­te Future HEI. It is an exci­ting and important time to focus on the future poten­ti­al of HEIs. As experts in enga­ged, entre­pre­neu­ri­al, and inno­va­ti­ve uni­ver­si­ties and uni­ver­si­ty-busi­ness col­la­bo­ra­ti­on, UIIN is deligh­ted to lead part­ners on this jour­ney to col­la­bo­ra­tively gain an under­stan­ding of the hig­her edu­ca­ti­on sta­tus quo and desi­red future sta­te, deve­lop a road­map and sub­se­quent­ly imple­ment and sup­port pro­grams of chan­ge for HEIs through expert coa­ching, trai­ning and peer lear­ning in a net­work that will sus­tain far bey­ond the scope of the pro­ject.”
As part of the pro­ject, the “acce­le­ra­ti­on part­ners” will work tog­e­ther with two exis­ting HEI con­sor­tia as part of the Euro­pean Uni­ver­si­ty Alli­ance and EIT HEI Inno­va­ti­on Capa­ci­ty Buil­ding initia­ti­ves to design the metho­do­lo­gy for acce­le­ra­ti­on ser­vices, which the HEI part­ners will test through deve­lo­ping and imple­men­ting insti­tu­tio­nal trans­for­ma­ti­on pro­jects. Not only will the pro­ject direct­ly bene­fit the acce­le­ra­ti­on of the invol­ved HEIs, but it will also fur­ther pro­vi­de key lear­nings and poli­cy recom­men­da­ti­ons to sup­port the acce­le­ra­ti­on of entre­pre­neu­ri­al and inno­va­ti­ve HEIs across Euro­pe.
Acce­le­ra­te Future HEI is fun­ded under the Hori­zon Euro­pe pro­gram, the EU’s key fun­ding pro­gram for rese­arch and inno­va­ti­on. The Hori­zon Euro­pe pro­gram faci­li­ta­tes col­la­bo­ra­ti­on and streng­thens the impact of rese­arch and inno­va­ti­on in deve­lo­ping, sup­port­ing and imple­men­ting EU poli­ci­es while tack­ling glo­bal chal­lenges. Moreo­ver, it sup­ports the crea­ti­on and bet­ter dif­fu­si­on of excel­lent know­ledge and tech­no­lo­gies.
We as TUM Inter­na­tio­nal are deligh­ted to be part of the new rese­arch and inno­va­ti­on pro­ject! Our main role: To design a moni­to­ring & eva­lua­ti­on metho­do­lo­gy for entre­pre­neu­ri­al uni­ver­si­ties and to gui­de the acce­le­ra­ti­on part­ners through impact work­shops!