Unlocking systemic innovation excellence through UBC.
Date: 2022-01-21
Institutions: Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture
Subjects: EU Member State, EU employment policy, EU strategy, competitiveness, coronavirus disease, development policy, economic and social cohesion, economic consequence, economic growth, economic recovery, information technology, innovation, knowledge economy, research and development, social development, social impact, university

Unlocking systemic innovation 
excellence through UBC 

Reflection Paper Series 

 
 
 
Publications written/published by external organisations at the request and with the support of the European Commission. 

Written by Nadine Burquel (BCS), Tanja Bacher (3s), Stefan Humpl (3s) 

This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors, and the 
Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2022 

PDF 

ISBN 978-92-76-40147-6   

ISSN 2600-321X  

doi:10.2766/885722 

NC-BC-21-003-EN-N 

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Cover: Image, source: www.shutterstock.com 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  3 

 
 
4 

Contents 

1.0. Introduction ................................................................................................... 5 

1.0  Introduction.............................................................................................. 6 

2.0.  Innovation as a response to societal changes ................................ 8 

2.1.  Recent EU policy developments and priorities .................................. 9 

2.2.  Innovation, growth, employment, and competitiveness – A 
European approach ....................................................................................... 11 

2.3.  KICs and European Universities Initiative ........................................ 14 

3.0.  From widening innovation to unlocking excellence through 
UBC 16 

3.1.  Unlocking excellence through open innovation ecosystems ......... 17 

3.2.  Universities and businesses driving local innovation in global 
ecosystems ..................................................................................................... 19 

4.0.  Unlocking different forms of excellence through social 
innovation ............................................................................................................. 22 

4.1.  Unlocking new forms of excellence through social innovation ..... 23 

4.2.  Enabling factors for social innovation ............................................... 25 

4.3.  EU support for social innovation ........................................................ 26 

5.0.  Conclusions ................................................................................................. 28 

5.1.  Conclusions ............................................................................................ 29 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1.0. Introduction 

 
 
 
6 

1.0  Introduction 

Innovation has been at the core of EU policies for many years. In the year 2000, the Lisbon 
Strategy aimed to develop Europe into "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based 
economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and 
greater social cohesion"1.  Nearly two decades later, European Commission President Ursula 
von der Leyen announced her ‘Agenda for Europe’, in which she underlined the importance 
of research and innovation to tackle the key challenges facing Europe (climate change, 
technological disruption, health, and demography), which are accentuated by the impact of the 
Covid-19 pandemic: “we will invest record amounts in cutting-edge research and innovation, 
using the full flexibility of the next EU budget to focus on the areas with the greatest potential”2. 

Despite  the  strong  EU  policy  focus  and  support  for  innovation,  innovation  and  economic 
development remain at different levels  across EU Member States, leading to additional 
EU policy interventions and programmes to support cohesion3 among Member States, and to 
provide  support  to  the  lower  innovative  countries4  in  the  Union.  The  European  Innovation 
Scoreboard  was  conceived  as  a  country  peer  learning  exercise,  allowing  a  comparative 
analysis  of  innovation  and  performance  in  EU  countries,  assessing  relative  strengths  and 
weaknesses  of  national  innovation  systems,  and  helping  countries  identify  areas  to  be 
addressed in order to improve. 

According to a recent report “A Robust Innovation Ecosystem for the Future of Europe”5, key 
challenges  for  innovation  are  linked  to  the  level  of  local,  regional,  and  global 
connectedness of stakeholders, competence and talent, and capital, all to be improved 
to better enable innovation in the complex and diverse European ecosystem. These challenges 
already  point  to  the  important  role  of  University  Business  Cooperation  (UBC)  to  unlock 
innovation.  They  especially  play  an  important  role  in  establishing  innovation  ecosystems, 
allowing different actors, ranging across Multinational Corporations (MNC), SMEs, start-ups, 
students,  universities  and/or  policymakers,  to  cooperate  and  “to  be  involved  and  create 
seamless interaction and mash-up for ideas in innovation ecosystems”6. 

1 The Lisbon Strategy in short.  Available at: 
https://portal.cor.europa.eu/europe2020/Profiles/Pages/TheLisbonStrategyinshort.aspx [Accessed May 6, 2021]. 

2 A Union that strives for more.  My Agenda for Europe.  Candidate President for the European Commission.  
Ursula von der Leyen.  Available at https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/political-guidelines-next-
commission_en_0.pdf [Accessed May 6, 2021]. 

3 New Cohesion Policy.  Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/2021_2027/ [Accessed May 6, 
2021].  

4 European innovation scoreboards.  Available at: 
https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/policy/innovation/scoreboards_en [Accessed May 7, 2021].  

5 A robust innovation ecosystem for the future of Europe.  Report on the results of the stakeholders' consultation. 
October 2019 – February 2020.  Available at: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/c7552948-
f6fc-11ea-991b-01aa75ed71a1 [Accessed May 7, 2021]. 

6 Shaping Europe’s Digital future. Open Innovation 2.0. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-
market/en/open-innovation-20 [Accessed May 7, 2021]. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  7 

This  reflection  paper  reviews  the  developments  and  issues  related  to  unlocking  multiple 
excellence  and  innovation  through  UBC.  The  term  ‘multiple  excellence’  was  already 
introduced in 2013 in a JRC technical report on “Defining European ICT Poles of Excellence 
(EIPE)”7, and the issues raised remain fully relevant today. The report reviewed the theoretical 
literature  on  agglomeration  economies  (i.e.  the  spatial  concentration  of  economic  activities) 
and the role  of ICT in  regional  dynamics8.  Based on  this  analysis the report  concluded  that 
European ICT poles of excellence should increase performance in business and knowledge 
functions  through  strong  “agglomeration,  internationalisation  and  global  networking”.  It 
proposes  the following  definition  “EIPE  are  geographical  agglomerations of  best  performing 
Information  and  Communication  Technologies  production,  R&D  and  innovation  activities, 
located in the European Union, which play a central role in global international networks”. 

Further, the paper presents examples of how UBC can be a practical approach to unlock 
innovation and showcase solutions. It looks into EU policy on innovation, and the adoption 
of  a  wider  and  inclusive  innovation  agenda  to  celebrate  multiple  forms  of  excellence  for 
societal developments.  Past  phases  of  UBC  have  seen  the  emergence  and  sustainable 
development of new products, services, concepts and organisational models, generated from 
the  multiple  interactions  between  different stakeholders  in  innovation  ecosystems  that  are 
framed  in  networks  of interactions between  academia, industry,  government  and  now  civil 
society under the Triple and now Quadruple Helix9 models. 

The paper is structured as follows: 

•  Chapter 2 of this reflection paper reviews President von der Leyen’s new Agenda for 
Europe with a major Green Deal for Europe and the Resilience and Recovery Package. 

•  Chapter  3 looks  into  the  ways  concepts  and policies  for innovation have shifted  to 

address a broader and more inclusive focus. 

•  Chapter  4  presents  two important  DG  EAC  initiatives:  the  EIT’s  Knowledge 

and Innovation Communities (KICs) and the European Universities Initiative.  

•  Chapter 5 presents EU initiatives to support social innovation.  

•  Chapter 6 presents recommendations on how UBC can strengthen systemic resilience 

by unlocking multiple types of excellence through multi-actor collaboration. 

7 De Prato, Guidait ; Nepalî, Daniel (2013). Defining European ICT Poles of Excellence: Literature Review p. 67. 
Available at: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC77962 [Accessed May 6, 2021].  

8  It  also  sought  to  draw  on  experiences  from  empirical  exercises  to  map  geographical  locations  of  business, 
industrial and innovation concentration. It provides an inventory of “labelling initiatives” on excellence (centres of 
excellence,  excellence  in  business  and  excellence  in  science)  and  on  innovation  (the  French  “Pôles  de 
compétitivité”, the ICT Lab in the EIT or media reports by the Economic Intelligence Unit (Innovation-led clusters)).   

9 Using the quadruple helix approach to accelerate the transfer of research and innovation results to regional 
growth.  Available at: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/6e54c161-36a9-11e6-a825-
01aa75ed71a1. [Accessed May 7, 2021].   

 
 
 
2.0. Innovation as a response to 

societal changes 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  9 

2.1.  Recent EU policy developments and 

priorities  

In  2019,  European  Commission  President  Ursula  von  der  Leyen  launched  the  ‘Agenda  for 
Europe’10,  highlighting  Europe’s  challenges  with  climate,  technological  disruption,  and 
demography,  while  emphasising  the  importance  of  collaboration  to  address  these  priorities 
with adequate and sustainable financing. The European experience of the Covid-19 pandemic 
has shown how cooperation, openness and sharing, and common purpose, were fundamental 
in overcoming infection and death levels, and in developing a coherent vaccination strategy. 
That requires deep and flexible cooperation between research, business, and policy in a way 
that goes beyond the levels of cooperation seen in the past. 

“ 

The European experience of the Covid-19 
pandemic has shown how cooperation, 
openness and sharing, and common purpose, 
were fundamental in overcoming infection and 
death levels, and in developing a coherent 
vaccination strategy. 

The authors 

In her Agenda, President Von der Leyen puts forward three key priorities: 

•  With regards to technology, she acknowledged the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) 
with  “data  and  AI  being  the  ingredients  for  innovation  that  can  help  us  to  find 
solutions  to  societal  challenges,  from  health  to  farming,  from  security  to 
manufacturing”. The EC communication “Fostering a European approach to Artificial 
Intelligence”11 proposes to develop a regulatory framework for AI (to mitigate the high 
risks  which  existing  legislation  does  not  sufficiently  address),  and  to  define  a  new 
coordinated  plan  on  artificial  intelligence.  The  aim  is  clearly  to  encourage  the 
development of AI, taking advantage of opportunities to make the EU a world-class hub 
for AI while at the same time clearly addressing the potential risks it could pose to safety 
and fundamental rights.   

10 Von der Leyen, U. 2019. A Union that Strives for More. My Agenda for Europe. Political Guidelines for the Next 
European 
at: 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/43a17056-ebf1-11e9-9c4e-01aa75ed71a1  [Accessed  April 
21, 2021]. 

Commission. 

Commission 

2019-2024. 

European 

Brussels: 

Available 

11  Communication  from  the  Commission  to  the  European  Parliament, the  Council,  the  European  Economic  and 
Social  Committee  and  the  Committee  of  the  Regions,  Fostering  a  European  approach  to  Artificial  Intelligence.  
Available  at  https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/communication-fostering-european-approach-artificial-
intelligence [Accessed May 6, 2021]. 

 
 
 
10 

•  The  Agenda  also  states  that  “we  need  equality  for  all  and  equality  in  all  of  its 
senses.  […]  Innovation  happens  when  people  from  different  backgrounds  and 
perspectives blend together”. It referred to the European Pillar of Social Rights12 and 
the UN’s Sustainable Development Agenda13 as key instruments to build “an economy 
that works for people”. 

•  On the environment, the Green Deal14 is the most ambitious of all the political priorities. 
To  ensure  Europe  becomes  “the  first  climate-neutral  continent  by  2050”,  the 
Agenda includes proposals that range from a Biodiversity Strategy15 for 2030, a new 
Circular Economy Action Plan16 and a new Farm to Fork Strategy17 on sustainable food, 
to  a  strategy  on  green/sustainable  financing18,  a  European  Climate  Pact19  and  a 
Sustainable Europe Investment Plan20, which “will support over 1€ trillion of investment 
over the next decade”. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has made it necessary to place these ambitious plans in the new 
context  of  dealing  with  the  pandemic,  then  moving  into  recovery  and  actions  to 
strengthen resilience in EU Member States – and UBC clearly has a role to play here. The 
EU Recovery and Resilience Facility21 is making available €672.5 billion in loans and grants to 
mitigate  the  economic  and  social  impacts  of  the  Covid-19  crisis  and  make  Member  States 
more sustainable, resilient, and prepared for the green and digital transitions. The Facility is 
the  key  component  of  the  NextGenerationEU22,  the  temporary  recovery  instrument  under 
which the Commission is raising funds to support immediate economic and social recovery.  

12 European Pillar of Social Rights. 2021. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/priorities/deeper-and-
fairer-economic-and-monetary-union/european-pillar-social-rights_en [Accessed April 17, 2021]. 

13 United Nations. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Available at: https://sdgs.un.org/goals [Accessed 
April 17, 2021]. 

14 A European Green Deal. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-
deal_en [Accessed April 17, 2021]. 

15 Biodiversity strategy for 2030: Concrete actions. Available at: 
https://ec.europa.eu/environment/strategy/biodiversity-strategy-2030_en [Accessed May 7, 2021].  

16 Circular economy action plan. Available at:  https://ec.europa.eu/environment/strategy/circular-economy-action-
plan_en [Accessed May 7, 2021]. 

17 Farm to fork strategy. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/food/farm2fork_en [Accessed May 7, 2021]. 

18 Sustainable finance.  Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/banking-and-
finance/sustainable-finance_en [Accessed May 7, 2021 

19 European Climate Pact. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/eu-climate-action/pact_en [Accessed 
May 7, 2021]. 

20 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and 
Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Sustainable European Investment Plan. European Green 
Deal Investment Plan. Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52020DC0021 [Accessed May 7, 2021]. 

21 Recovery and Resilience Facility. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/recovery-
coronavirus/recovery-and-resilience-facility_en [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

22 NextGenerationEU.  Commission gets ready to raise €800 billion to fund recovery. Available at:  
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_21_1703 [Accessed May 7, 2021] 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  11 

2.2.  Innovation, growth, employment, and 

competitiveness – A European approach 

The  fourth  industrial  revolution  is  technology-driven23,  requiring  organisations  to  harness 
technology,  people,  physical  and digital  spaces into  new  products  and services,  in  order to 
thrive  in  knowledge-based  economies  and  inclusive  societies.  A  PwC  report  for  the  World 
Economic Forum 202124 advocates that significant investment in massive upskilling could 
boost global GDP by USD 6.5 trillion (€5.549 trillion) by 2030 and create 5.3 million new 
jobs. The key challenge is to augment human labour and avoid that routine tasks are taken 
over through robotisation. The report argues that there is a huge demand for jobs that require 
creativity, innovation and empathy, all to be used extensively along new IT skills.  

Innovation  has  always  been  at  the  heart  of  EU  policy  for  a  knowledge  society.  The  Lisbon 
Strategy of 2000 was followed by the Europe 2020 strategy launched in 2010 and proposed a 
framework  for  Europe’s  agenda  for  smart,  sustainable  and  inclusive  growth25,  The  EU 
innovation  agenda  has always  had a  double internal  and external  goal, namely,  to  improve 
Europe’s competitiveness and economic growth within Member States and the EU, as well as 
position the EU as a strong economic player in the world. In 2000, the Europe of knowledge 
was  launched,  as  was  the  European  Research  Area  (ERA)26  to  reach  a  critical  mass  of 
excellence, world class research for global competitiveness and address the knowledge gap. 
A process to revitalise the ERA was launched in 2018, which led in 2020 to the “new European 
Research Area”. The new ERA focuses on four strategic priorities:  

•  To  prioritise  investments  and  reforms  in  research  and  innovation  and  support  the 

digital and green transition and Europe’s recovery. 

•  To improve access to excellent research and innovation for researchers across the 

EU. 

•  To translate research results into the economic growth (to ensure market uptake of 

research output). 

•  To  progress  on  the  free  circulation  of  knowledge,  researchers,  and  technology 

through stronger cooperation with EU countries.  

23 Shaping Europe’s digital future. The fourth industrial revolution.  Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-
market/en/fourth-industrial-revolution [Accessed May 7, 2021] 

24 World Economic Forum. Upskilling for Shared Prosperity. 2021. Available at: 
https://www.weforum.org/reports/upskilling-for-shared-prosperity [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

25 Europe 2020: A Strategy for Smart Sustainable and Inclusive Growth. 2010. Available at: 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/6a915e39-0aab-491c-8881-147ec91fe88a/language-en 
[Accessed April 19, 2021] 

26 European Research Area (ERA). Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-
innovation/strategy/era_en [Accessed April 17, 2021]  

 
 
 
 
12 

Despite  the  strong  EU  policy  focus  and  support  to  innovation,  levels  of  innovation  and 
economic development have been at different levels across EU Member States, leading 
to  additional  EU  policy  interventions  and  programmes  to  support  cohesion  among  Member 
States  and  provide  assistance to the  less  innovative  countries  in the  Union.  The  European 
Court  of  Auditors  has  recently  launched  an  inquiry  about  the  efficiency  of  the  widening 
innovation  mechanisms  in  the  Horizon  2020  programme27.  This  could  be  interpreted  that  a 
broader view on innovation and excellence may be needed to capture the multiple forms of 
innovation that exist in EU Member States, beyond those currently reported since it seems that 
only marginal changes occur in the less innovative places despite the many attempts to widen 
innovation.  

The European Innovation Scoreboard28 and the Regional Innovation Scoreboard (RIS)29 were 
conceived as country/regions peer learning exercises (see Figure 1). The main results reveal 
that  EU  countries  fall  into  four  performance  groups  (innovation  leaders,  strong 
innovators,  moderate  innovators  and  modest  innovators),  that  the  EU  innovation 
performance had increased by 8.9% compared to 2012, and ‘that at the global level, the EU 
has surpassed the United States for the second time’. Innovation areas that are emphasised 
are30: 

•  Framework conditions: Human resources and the level of innovation-friendliness of 

the environment; attractive research systems; Innovation-friendly environment. 

• 

• 

• 

Investments: Finance and support; Firm investments. 

Innovation  activities:  Innovators  such  as  SMEs  introducing  product  or  process 
innovations;  Linkages  for  example  with  innovative  SMEs  collaborating  with  others; 
Intellectual assets. 
Impacts: Employment impacts; Sales impacts. 

27 European Court of Auditors. Auditors Scrutinise EU Action to Tackle Innovation divide. 2021. Available at: 
https://www.eca.europa.eu/en/Pages/NewsItem.aspx?nid=15028 [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

28 European Innovation Scoreboard 2020. Available at: 
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/QANDA_20_1150 [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

29 Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. 2019. Available at: 
https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/policy/innovation/regional_en [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

30 Regional innovation scoreboard 2019. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/sites/default/files/ris2019.pdf 
[Accessed April 21, 2021] See also https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/policy/innovation/regional_en [Accessed 
April 21, 2021] 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  13 

Figure 1. European Innovation Scoreboard 2020 

Source: European Commission Innovation Scoreboard. Available at: 
https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/42981  

The 2020 edition of the Innovation Scoreboard highlights that the highest increases since the 
launch  have  been  seen  in  Lithuania,  Malta,  Latvia,  Portugal  and  Greece.  Countries  like 
Denmark,  Finland,  Luxembourg,  the  Netherlands,  and  Sweden  are  Innovation Leaders  with 
innovation  performance  well  above  the  EU  average.  Austria,  Belgium,  Estonia,  France, 
Germany, Ireland, and Portugal are Strong Innovators with a performance above or close to 
the EU average. Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, 
Poland,  Slovakia,  Slovenia,  and  Spain  are  Moderate  Innovators  performing  below  the  EU 
average. Bulgaria and Romania are Modest Innovators performing well below the EU average.  

The report “A Robust Innovation Ecosystem for the Future of Europe” 31, identified challenges 
linked  to  the  level  of  connectedness  to  stakeholders,  competence  and  talent,  and  capital. 
Survey  responses  highlighted  that  connectedness  between  stakeholders,  locally  and 
globally, is critical to improve current networks for innovation and better flows across the 
European complex and highly diverse ecosystem.  

31 European Innovation Council. A Robust Innovation Ecosystem for the Future of Europe. 2020. Available at: 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/c7552948-f6fc-11ea-991b-01aa75ed71a1 [Accessed April 
17, 2021] 

 
 
 
 
“ 

14 

Connectedness between stakeholders, locally 
and globally, is critical to improve current 
innovation networks. 

Responses to European Innovation Council survey (2021) 

The report also highlights to the need to foster the entrepreneurial ethos a lot more and 
from  an  early  age.  It  argues  that  entrepreneurship  and  a  good  understanding  of  how 
innovation ecosystems can work effectively is often not sufficiently promoted at all levels, from 
students  to  faculty,  researchers,  entrepreneurs,  investors,  and  the  public  sector.  It  also 
highlights  that  more  capital  is  needed  to  support  innovation,  new  forms  of  cross-border 
investment and a “de-risking” of investment in disruptive companies.  

Finally,  a  holistic  view  on  the  funding  of  ecosystems  is  said  to  be  lacking  to  support 
sufficient investment in scaleups (but also in early-stage companies), to enable trial and error 
and the scaling-up of innovative pilots. The report calls for the current regulatory burden to be 
reduced,  simplifying  legislation,  and  developing  new  approaches  for  innovative  public 
procurement. 

2.3.  KICs and European Universities Initiative 

DG Education and Culture (DGEAC) supports wider stakeholder engagement to co-create new 
ideas,  services  and  products  around  two  major  structuring  models  for  innovative  forms  of 
education and research for societal impact and sustainable growth. These are the Knowledge 
and Innovative Communities (KICs) in the European Institute of Innovation and Technology 
(EIT)32 and the European Universities Initiative33. 

The KICs are active in areas of long-term societal challenges and generate concrete impact 
in terms of new business creation and societal benefits. They form strong hubs of innovation 
and excellence, across sectors, discipline, geographical, institutional and sectoral borders. 

The latest available evaluation of the EIT covers the period 2010-201534, reporting on the EIT’s   
uniqueness and added value through the integration between all three sides of the knowledge 
triangle across borders, sectors and organisations (and across the private and public sectors).  
It provides KIC partners and beneficiaries with access to a wider network of partners, investors 
and customers that  might  otherwise  be  difficult to  connect  to.  The report  highlights  that the 
objectives originally stated for the EIT and supported by the academic literature are still fully 

32 Knowledge and Innovation Communities.  What is an Innovation Community? Available at:  https://eit.europa.eu/our-
communities/eit-innovation-communities [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

33 https://ec.europa.eu/education/education-in-the-eu/european-education-area/european-universities-
initiative_en [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

34 Evaluation of the European institute of Innovation and Technology. 2019 Final Report.  Available at: 
https://ec.europa.eu/education/sites/default/files/document-library-docs/finalreport_eitinterimevaluation.pdf 
[Accessed May 7, 2021] 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  15 

relevant  today,  i.e.  that  networked  approaches  to  innovation  help  grow  new  communities, 
nurture entrepreneurship, bring innovation to market and deal with societal challenges.   

The  European  University  Initiative  calls  on  academia  to  innovate  with  new  forms  of 
integrated transnational degree education, beyond what had already been achieved through 
the Erasmus Mundus joint masters35 or the EIT master programmes36. 

To  date  the  European  Commission  has  selected  41  European  Universities  transnational 
alliances that are all based on a long-term strategy focussed on sustainability, excellence, and 
European values. They are innovating in new forms of student-centred curricula jointly  

delivered  across  campuses,  in  which  students  build  their  own  programme  and  experience 
multiple new forms of mobility. They include a clear UBC focus to widen innovation and unlock 
excellence in so far as the Alliances are expected to adopt a “challenge-based approach”, in 
which  students,  academics  and  external  partners  cooperate  in  inter-disciplinary  teams  to 
tackle” the grand challenges” of society in Europe today. 

35 Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters scholarships.  Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-
plus/opportunities/individuals/students/erasmus-mundus-joint-masters-scholarships_en [Accessed May 7, 2021] 

36 EIT Entrepreneurial Education.  Available at: https://eit.europa.eu/our-activities/education [Accessed May 7, 2021] 

 
 
 
3.0. From widening innovation to 

unlocking excellence 
through UBC

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  17 

3.1.  Unlocking excellence through open 

innovation ecosystems 

The concept of innovation37 was originally adopted by policymakers for new approaches to 
support economic growth in what has now become wider innovation ecosystems. Such 
innovation  ecosystems  “describe  collectives  of  heterogeneous,  yet  complementary, 
organizational  actors38”  (such  as  MNCs,  SMEs,  start-ups,  students,  universities  and/or 
policymakers). The more sophisticated the local, regional or national ecosystem in terms of 
place-based strategies and the structural cooperation and attractiveness for investment, the 
higher  performance  on  innovation,  it  is  argued.  This  is  also  demonstrated  through  the  EU 
innovation scoreboard (described in the previous section). Innovation ecosystems are a space 
for the participating parties to develop and launch solutions for solving real-world-problems. 
For instance, in Austria such an innovation ecosystem was recently set up in the form of an 
online platform to help SMEs with the digital transformation.  

The  Digital  Makers  Hub39 in  Austria  offers  a  platform  where  companies  (mainly  SMEs), 
experts and developers have a space to connect, to develop jointly new business solutions, 
and to unlock the innovation potential through the use of digitalisation. The Digital Makers 
are the so-called “creative minds” to develop solutions for digitalisation - from students to 
university lecturers, from individuals to organisations, from regional initiatives to start-ups. 
The project is coordinated by the University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten. 

The  Digital  Makers  Hub  aims  to  establish  a  digital  culture  across  Austria,  connecting 
“makers spaces” to close technological gaps, and to promote smart regions based on their 
regional  strengths  and  identity.    They  also  help with  innovative  approaches  to  work  and 
further education, and they promote interdisciplinarity and creativity. 

The initiative is funded by grants from the National Foundation for Research, Technology 
and Development, is supported by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic affairs and 
it is coordinated by the FFG (The Austrian Research Promotion Agency). 

In its first project year the Digital Makers Hub conducted approximately 70 events and online 
formats  and  it  could engage  around  1,800 “Digital  Makers”.  The following  activities  were 
very well received: “Inspiring Chats” on topics like “Artificial intelligence in the world of work 
and  in  future”  or  “Digital  ways  to  the  consumer”  as  well  as  the  “Virtual  Future  Tech 
Bootcamp” where ideas around themes like the “Internet of Things”, “Radar Technology”, 
“Renewable Energy” and “Artificial Intelligence” were developed.  

Sources: Digital Makers Hub40 and FH St. Pölten41. 

37 Innovation: The History of a Buzzword.  Available at: 
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/06/innovation-the-history-of-a-buzzword/277067/ [Accessed 
May 7, 2021]. 

38 Thomas, L./ Autio, E. (2019). Innovation Ecosystems. In: SSRN electronic Journal, January 2019, p. 4.  

39 The Digital Makers Hub.  Available at https://www.digitalmakershub.at/en/ and the website of the FH St. Pölten 
(https://www.fhstp.ac.at/de/newsroom/news/ein-jahr-digital-makers-hub). [Accessed May 6, 2021]. 

40 Digital makers hub. Available at: https://www.digitalmakershub.at/en/ [Accessed April 21, 2021] 

41 https://www.fhstp.ac.at/de/newsroom/news/ein-jahr-digital-makers-hub  [Accessed May 6, 2021].  

 
 
 
18 

In  1995,  the  American  economist  Clay  Christensen  defined  disruptive  innovation42 as  the 
means to create new markets and value networks that eventually disrupt existing markets and 
displace  established  firms,  products,  and  alliances.  According  to  Christensen,  disruptive 
innovation is about low costs and highly accessible products, low gross margins that at first 
serve the low-end of the market before they expand to larger markets. They are often hard to 
see  coming  and  are  at  first  not  taken  seriously  before  they  quickly  develop.  Some  truly 
disruptive examples are video streaming (Netflix), LED lights that disrupted the light bulbs, or 
smartphones. Less truly disruptive examples include Uber (it did not start at the low end of the 
market since its customers were already using taxis) or Tesla cars (that focus on the high end 
of the market). 

In the European Open Innovation System43 multiple stakeholders are encouraged to co-create 
through  integrated  interactions,  generate  new  ideas  and  shared  values  in  wide  innovation 
ecosystems.  It  is  based  on  the  Quadruple  Helix  Model  in  which  government,  industry, 
academia,  and  civil  society  cooperate  to  co-create  the  future  and  drive  structural  changes 
through  the  cross-fertilisation of  ideas  that  lead to  experimentation  in  real  life environments 
(see Figure 2). 

Figure 2. Quadruple Helix Model of Collaboration 

Source: GRRIP. Why is Quadruple Helix engagement so important Available at:: https://grrip.eu/why-is-
quadruple-helix-engagement-so-important/  

42 Christensen, C. M. & Raynor, M. E. & McDonald, R. 2015. What is Disruptive Innovation? Available at: 
https://hbr.org/2015/12/what-is-disruptive-innovation [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

43 Open innovation 2.0.  Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/open-innovation-20 [Accessed 
May 7, 2021]. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  19 

Regional  innovation  ecosystems  as  advocated  under  the  DG  Regio  Smart  Specialisation 
Strategy44 are part of the European and global clusters of innovation ecosystems that must be 
sustainable  internally  and  externally.  The  goal  is  to  deliver  social  inclusion,  well-being,  and 
equity  for  citizens  while  at  the  same  time  being  resilient  to  external  forces.  The  focus  is 
increasingly shifting to identify multiple forms of innovation or excellences, being in education, 
research and in the cooperation between businesses of all types (including those with a social 
aim) and universities.  

“ 

Disruptive innovation is about low costs and 
highly accessible products, low gross margins 
that at first serve the low-end of the market 
before they expand to larger markets. 

Christensen et al. (2018) 

Social innovation and new social practices have been regaining attention in the last few years 
following  the  2008  economic  crisis.  Multiple  voices  in  society  by  civil  society  organisations, 
NGOs, advocacy groups or the public at large have also been advocating for more inclusive 
societal and economic growth, arguing that the benefits of an innovation-led economy can only 
be fully maximised when these are widely distributed. 

3.2.  Universities and businesses driving local 

innovation in global ecosystems  

Although HEIs operate in the global HE ecosystem, both collaborating and competing, they 
HEIs are also grounded in their own local and regional environments in which they can 
collaborate and compete. The historic view of ‘town and gown’ and the way HEIs would ‘get 
along’ with their neighbours has shifted and is looking now much more at how HEIs are locally, 
regionally, nationally, and globally engaged. Such a shift requires much deeper relationships 
with  businesses,  civil  society  and  policymakers  to  ensure  education  delivers  for  society  in 
terms  of  a  wider  set  of  skills,  competences,  and  knowledge  that  can  be  deepened  through 
cooperation and collaboration. Social innovation is at the heart of such developments.  

For  some  time,  universities  have  been  embracing  the  concept  of  civic  institutions45, 
broadening their mission to produce excellent research and education. Universities have been 
working on research outputs and education relevant for the needs of their local communities. 
In this way, they have embraced a wider definition of what constitutes excellence. They have 

44 Smart-Specialisation. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/research-topic/smart-specialisation [Accessed 
April 17, 2021] 

45 Calvert, R. 2020. It’s Now or Never for Universities to be Civic. Available at: 
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/its-now-or-never-universities-be-civic [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

 
 
 
20 

engaged 
in  collaborative  research  and  open  science  practices  with  non-academic 
stakeholders  in  their  environment.  This  in  a  context  where  the  DORA  San  Francisco 
Declaration46 advocates for research assessment beyond journal citations.  

“ 

Universities have been working on research 
outputs and education relevant for the needs of 
their local communities […] embrac[ing] a wider 
definition of what constitutes excellence. 

The authors 

Different forms of research outputs beyond the scholarly publications in academic journals are 
also advocated in the Dutch initiative ‘Rewards and Recognitions’ by VSNU, the Dutch national 
association of universities to unlock multiple forms of academic talent and innovative research 
in HEIs47.  This initiative is also supported by EUA, the European University Association, clearly 
pointing to UBC and multiple stakeholder involvement in the academic enterprise. The 
focus on Responsible Research and Innovation as a cross-cutting dimension in Horizon 202048 
goes in the same direction, and many national innovation funds now also broaden innovation 
beyond technological developments and support inclusive research and social engagement. 

In the private sector, the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) already emerged 
in  the  seventies  and  is  now  gaining  new  attention  in  the  context  of  the  UN  Sustainable 
Development Goals49 and the way businesses are taking them on board, adopting new values 
and approaches on issues of climate change, social inclusion or social challenges. In 2012, 
the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI) was created in the run-up to the United 
Nations  Conference  on  Sustainable  Development  (Rio+20)  with more  than  300  universities 
from around the world signing up and committing to:  

•  Teach sustainable development across all disciplines of study. 

•  Encourage research and dissemination of sustainable development knowledge. 

•  Green campuses and support local sustainability. 

•  Engage and share information with international networks50. 

46 DORA. The Declaration on Research Assessment. Available at: https://sfdora.org/ [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

47 VSNU - Association of Universities in the Netherlands. Position Paper on Recognition & Rewards. Available at: 
https://vsnu.nl/recognitionandrewards/recognition-and-rewards/index.html [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

48 Responsible Research and Innovation.  Available at:   https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-
section/responsible-research-innovation [Accessed April 17, 2021]    

49 United Nations. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Available at: https://sdgs.un.org/goals [Accessed 
April 17, 2021] 

50 Higher Education Sustainability Initiative: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdinaction/hesi [Accessed April 
21, 2021]  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  21 

There  are  many  challenges  to  achieve  cohesive  innovation  ecosystems  in  which  different 
actors collaborate in competitive contexts to balance local, regional, and national interests and 
to drive local and global competitiveness and innovation. UBC can help to build such globally 
and  locally  competitive  sustainable  innovation  ecosystems.  An  example  of  such  an  open 
innovation system is the Innovation Design and Entrepreneurial Action (IDEA) programme in 
Athens. 

The Innovation Design and Entrepreneurial Action (IDEA)51 is an initiative of the Athens 
Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ACEin) at the Athens University of Economics 
and Business (AUEB). IDEA works with an open innovation project model to connect large 
organisations with talented students, entrepreneurial teams or start-ups to solve business 
problems.  Students or young entrepreneurs may have an initial business idea (or no idea 
at all) when they are connected to enterprises. 

To date IDEA has connected students and start-ups with large organisations in the fields of 
tourism,  health  and  fintech.  These  connections  have  resulted in innovative products  and 
service outcomes. 

The IDEA open innovation process has four phases: First the problem identification phase 
and the generation of ideas, which involves the articulation of the problem and setting up 
the team.  In the second phase the business innovation model is developed and validated; 
marketing strategies and elements of the business model are defined. The third phase Agile 
Design  and  Development  “involves  the  mock-up  development,  rapid  prototyping  of  the 
product/service and piloting through user testing”.  The fourth phase From Idea to Product 
aims  at  finalising  the  process.    It  includes  a  presentation  to  the  industry  partners  and  a 
selection of services/products that could be of interest to the partner for further development 
and potential commercial partnership. 

The  AUEB  provides  the  business-related  education  and  supports  “the  development  of 
business  models  and  plans”  in  the  programme.  The  industry  representatives  “provide 
mentoring  and  networking,  and  the  large  organisations  the  problem  contexts,  the 
sponsorship  of  teams  with  successful  proposals  and  they  also  collaborate  on  the 
development and execution of IDEA projects following the open innovation model”. IDEA 
intends to act as a dynamic “hub of open innovation and entrepreneurial interaction”. It does 
not want to simply act as “a provider of services to entrepreneurial teams. 

Source: Woolley, R. (2018). Athens Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ACEin): 
Engaging students in open innovation with large companies, pp. -1352.=

51 IDEA. Available at: https://acein.aueb.gr/ [Accessed May 21, 2021]  

52  Woolley,  R.  (2018).  Athens  Centre  for  Entrepreneurship  and  Innovation  (ACEin):  Engaging  students  in  open 
innovation with large companies, pp. 1-13 

 
 
 
4.0. Unlocking different forms of 
excellence through social 
innovation 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  23 

4.1.  Unlocking new forms of excellence 

through social innovation 

The EU Green Deal and the Recovery and Resilience Package clearly focuses on unlocking 
excellence in the wider sense through collaboration between all stakeholders from civil society, 
industry and academia across regions and local communities. They clearly point to structural 
collaboration  in  the  Quadruple  Helix  to  scale  up  the  enormous  innovative  capacity  of 
multiple players in society into sustainable and inclusive societal partnerships for social value. 
UBC plays a major role in their developments.  

“ 

Innovations with a social purpose focus on new 
social practices, social processes and new 
forms of collaboration to meet societal needs 
and generate value (beyond the balance 
sheets). 

The authors 

Innovations  with  a  social  purpose  focus  on  new social  practices,  social  processes  and  new 
forms of collaboration to meet societal needs and generate value (beyond the balance sheets). 
The digital platforms that have emerged with the growth of new technologies have given social 
innovators,  users  and  communities  new  collaborative  tools  to  co-create  knowledge  and 
solutions for a wide range of societal needs and potentially scale these initiatives on the global 
scene. One of the largest of such platforms is InnoCentive53 a global pioneer in crowdsourced 
innovation also committed to sustainability and social innovation.  

InnoCentive is an “Open Innovation Marketplace” which connects “Seekers” (companies, 
organisations, Start-ups) with “Solvers” (experts “from within and outside industry who offer 
diverse perspectives and fresh insights”). InnoCentive has developed a “Challenge Driven 
InnovationTM (CDI) model” that helps to develop innovative solutions for “complex problems” 
and empowers “seeker organisations to uncover and harness new business opportunities”. 
The  challenges  available  on  the  “Open  Innovation  Marketplace”  are  real  world  problems 
that can only be solved through critical thinking, research and creativity.  

The  “Solvers”  platform  has  already  hosted  challenges  “from  facilitating  access  to  clean 
water  at  a  household  level  to  passive  solar  devices  designed  to  attract  and  kill  malaria-
carrying  mosquitos”.  “Solvers”  are  diverse  groups  of  people  ranging  from  academics, 
consultants, researchers, companies, students, technicians, etc.  

Source: InnoCentive website54.   

53 InnoCentive.  The Open Innovation Marketplace.  Available at: https://www.innocentive.com/ [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

54 Innocentive. https://www.innocentive.com/ [Accessed April 22, 2021]  

 
 
 
24 

Many social innovation initiatives are small and require further structuring, funding, and more 
sustainable  collaborative  organisational  approaches  to  align  all  players  in  more  resilient 
innovation ecosystems through better modelling, forecasting, risk and crisis management. The 
European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund55 responds to these challenges by offering direct 
equity and quasi-equity investments in the capital of start-ups and SMEs in combination with 
grants, as part of the blended finance scheme under the EIC accelerator Pilot56.  

The EU adopted its revised Council Recommendation on key competences for lifelong 
learning  in  May  2018.  It  referred  to  citizenship  competence  as  one  of  the  eight  key 
competences, defined as “the ability to act as responsible citizens and to fully participate in 
civic and social life, based on understanding of social, economic, legal and political concepts 
and  structures,  as  well  as  global  developments  and  sustainability”57.  There  is  an  explicit 
reference to the UN Sustainable Development Agenda 203058, inviting EU Member States to 
mainstream  the  UN  Sustainable  Development  Goals  (SDGs)  into  education,  training  and 
learning,  encouraging  knowledge  acquisition  on  climate  change  and  the  sustainable  use  of 
natural  resources.  The  invitation  is  clear  that  HEIs  should  help  change  the  mindsets  of 
individual students but also for institutions themselves to focus more actively on the SDGs and 
operate  in  different  ways.  UBC  has  a  key  role  to  play  in  these  developments  as  HEIs  and 
businesses can play a transformational role through institutional changes, offering their staff 
(and students) opportunities to “practise change”.  

“ 

HEIs should help change the mindsets of 
individual students but also for institutions 
themselves to focus more actively on the SDGs 
and operate in different ways. 

The Authors 

55 EIC Fund; Available at https://eic.ec.europa.eu/investment-opportunities_en [Accessed April 16 June, 2021] 

56 EIC Accelerator Pilot. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/eic-accelerator-pilot 
[Accessed April 17, 2021] 

57 Council Recommendation of 22 May 2018 on key competences for lifelong learning. 2018. Available at: https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?toc=OJ%3AC%3A2018%3A189%3ATOC&uri=uriserv%3AOJ.C_.2018.189.01.0001.01.ENG [Accessed April 
17, 2021] 

58 United Nations. Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Available at: 
https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  25 

4.2.  Enabling factors for social innovation 

The report ‘A European ecosystem for social innovation’59 identifies critical enabling factors for 
social innovation. HEIs should do a lot more to promote social innovation as a discipline 
and a criterion for career advancement along other types of academic production. Curricula 
should offer knowledge to enhance students’ awareness of societal issues and develop their 
skills to become engaged citizens in society, possibly delivered in cooperation with business 
and NGOs, which currently remains challenging.     

According to the report HEIs are embedded in their region and they should cooperate with 
companies  that  have  a  strong  focus  on  social  innovation.  They  should  engage  more 
widely in civil society dialogues between citizens, students and university staff to form opinions 
and take action on issues of societal importance. Government R&D funding with a stronger 
focus on social innovation could also be a strong enabling factor to encourage the development 
of new business models; it is currently insufficient to support social innovation.  

The SocialLab at  the  University  of  Lucerne  provides  a good  example  of an  interdisciplinary 
project related to social innovation and cooperation between Universities, economic partners 
and NGOs. The interdisciplinary module "Social Lab60" uses the Design Thinking innovation 
method to find application-oriented solutions for social-social problems.  

59 GEORGHIOU, L. 2018. A European ecosystem for social innovation. European Commission. Published April. 
https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/df7a8163-69fd-11e8-9483-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-
PDF/source-71538714 [Accessed April 17, 2021]. 

60 https://www.isa-campus.ch/de-ch/angebote/sociallab/ [Accessed May 6, 2021] 

 
 
 
 
26 

The  SocialLab61  62  of  the  Lucerne  University  of  Applied  Sciences  and  Arts  is  an 
interdisciplinary module in which students from the departments of Social Work, Design and 
Art,  Technic  and  Architecture  and  Business  collaborate  on  questions  related  to  social 
innovation.  Students  work  with  practice  partners  from  different  economic  areas  in 
collaborative processes to develop innovative solutions with the use of design thinking. The 
module is offered yearly and consists of 3 sub-modules:  

1. “Innovation Camp”: This is a block week in Berlin during which students are introduced 
to the methods of design thinking and Fast-Forward-Challenges. They team up with 5 to 6 
fellow  students  and  are  introduced  to  the  specific  challenge  of  their  respective  practice 
partner. 

2. “Innovation  Development”:  This takes  place  during four  weekends.  In this  sub-module 
students get to know different co-working spaces, are working on their challenges under 
supervision,  exchange  with  the  respective  practice  partner  and  present  to  them  their 
intermediate results. In-between the weekends the study teams work independently on their 
challenges and possible solutions. 

3. “Innovation Transfer”: This is another block week during which students develop solutions 
for their team challenges. At the end of the week, they present their innovative solutions to 
their  respective  practice  partner.  The  sub-module  counts  for  3  ECTS  and  includes  a 
reflection  phase  and  feedback  from  the  practice  partner.  The  final  output  is  an 
implementation concept which is handed over to the practice partner who then decides how 
the concepts can be used and implemented. 

Sources: Minder, B./Larbig, C./Jakob, M.C. (2015) 63 and SocialLab website64.  

4.3.  EU support for social innovation 

The Commission has been pioneering social innovation for many years for example the EU-
funded  URBACT  programme65  to  help  cities  to  exchange  around  good  policies  for  urban 
developments  by  multiple  local  stakeholders.  The  EU-funded  SELUSI  study  (2008-2013)66 
reviewed 550+ social ventures and examined how they could expand innovation on a much 
larger scale, looking at different social venture business models. The FP7 Transition project 
(2013-2016)67  had  similar  aims  to  facilitate  upscaling  and  business  planning  for  social 
innovation initiatives.  

61 Minder, B./Larbig, C./Jakob, M.C. (2015). Out of the box: Soziale Innovation. Available at: 
https://www.zukunftsinstitut.de/artikel/out-of-the-box-soziale-innovation/ [Accessed April 22, 2021]. 

62 SocialLab. Available at: https://blog.hslu.ch/sociallab/studierende/modulaufbau/ [Accessed May 6, 2021].  

63 Minder, B./Larbig, C./Jakob, M.C. (2015). Out of the box: Soziale Innovation. Available at: 
https://www.zukunftsinstitut.de/artikel/out-of-the-box-soziale-innovation/ [Accessed April 22, 2021]. 

64 SocialLab. Available at: https://blog.hslu.ch/sociallab/studierende/modulaufbau/ [Accessed May 6, 2021].  

65 European Commission. URBACT Interreg. Available at : https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/atlas/programmes/2014-
2020/europe/2014tc16rfir003#:~:text=URBACT%20III%20is%20a%20European,programme%20promoting%20sustainable%20
urban%20development. [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

66 European Commission. Final Report Summary – SELUSI (Social Entrepreneurs as Lead Users for Service Innovation). 2013. 
Available at: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/217622/reporting [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

67 European Commission. Final Report Summary – TRANSITION (Transnational Network for Social Innovation Incubation). 
2016. Available at: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/604849/reporting [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  27 

In the Erasmus+ Alliances for Innovation are funded with the aim to strengthen Europe’s 
flows  of 
innovation 
innovation  capacity  by  boosting 
knowledge between higher education, vocational education and training institutions (both for 
initial  and  continuous  education),  and  the  broader  socio-economic  environment,  including 
research.68  An  example  of  such  an  alliance  for  social  innovation  is  the  “Social  Innovation 
through Knowledge Exchange” (SIKE) project which demonstrates the potential of universities 
to use their knowledge in order to affect social change in a direct and meaningful way.  

through cooperation  and 

SIKE69,  a  co-funded  Erasmus+  project  (2018-2021)  aims  to  unleash  the  knowledge 
potential of universities to have a direct impact on social change.  

The project developed a blueprint document to provide guidance for establishing local SIKE 
units.  These units intend to build alliances between stakeholders in the social innovation 
ecosystem,  from  businesses,  local  government,  to  civil  society  organisations  and 
community groups, to develop knowledge exchange tools and processes to meet the needs 
of social innovators.   

SIKE stimulates social entrepreneurial skills in universities and their regional communities.  
It offers facilities to support social innovation incubation and hot-desking.  It links services 
to connect social entrepreneurs and community groups with university knowledge bases.  It 
offers resources, processes and expertise to demonstrate the value of social innovation to 
policymakers. 

Source: SIKE project70. 

The Structural Funds have also supported multiple social innovation initiatives in areas such 
as migration, urban regeneration, health and ageing and workplace innovation. The guide for 
social innovation prepared in 2013 by DG REGIO and DG EMPL, with inputs from other DGs71, 
provided  multiple  examples.  It  highlights  the  need  to  upscale  social  innovation  into  public 
policies, looking at ways under which social innovation could be evaluated and approaches to 
shift from social policy experimentation to sustainable approaches.   

Finally, the Social Innovation Tournament of the European Investment Bank72  recognises the 
best European social entrepreneurs and reward innovative initiatives that create social, ethical 
or  environmental  impacts.  Projects  cover  areas  of  education,  healthcare  and  ageing,  the 
environment, the circular economy or job creation.  

68 Alliances for Innovation.Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/programme-guide/part-b/key-action-
2/partnerships-cooperation/alliances-innovation_en [Accessed April 27, 2021] 

69 The SIKE project.  Available at https://sike-eu.org/ Accessed April 27, 2021] 

70 Sike.  https://sike-eu.org/ [Accessed April 27, 2021] 

71 DG REGIO & DG EMPL. Guide to Social Innovation. 2013. Available at: https://www.channelmanche.com/assets/document-
downloads/EU-Guide-to-Social-Innovation.pdf [Accessed April 17, 2021] 
72 European Investment Bank. Social Innovation Tournament. 2020. Available at: https://institute.eib.org/social-innovation-
tournament-2/ [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

 
 
 
5.0.  Conclusions 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  29 

5.1.  Conclusions 

The  initiatives  described  in  this  reflection  paper  have  shown  results  since  universities  and 
businesses join forces to instil innovative mindsets in individuals (from staff to students), while 
at the same time stimulate dynamic institutional approaches to unlock multiple excellences in 
open  innovation  ecosystems.  As  this  approach  has  already  been  central  to  traditional 
technological innovation so far, it seems that for social innovation it is even more the case.  

Combining research excellence and economic development is crucial to add value to any type 
of  innovation.  The  importance  of  peoples’  mindsets  (university  staff,  students,  employers, 
employees, and wider society) is widely mentioned in the innovation literature73. However, this 
mindset is connected to the social, economic, and environmental conditions to build the basis 
for a modern innovation culture.  

The example of digitalisation illustrates this very clearly. Digitalisation is both an instrument for 
innovation, but also a way of innovation itself. The former reflects the need of use-cases for 
digitalisation, while the latter provides new perspectives on social and economic development 
through digital applications, which had not been thought of before. Further, digitalisation is also 
an  example for  regional  and  international  development:  Ideas for  digital  solutions  are  often 
established  with  communication  platforms  including  international  brainstorming.  The  Digital 
Makers Hub in Austria, as well as the global InnoCentive marketplace for open innovation, are 
just some examples of such platforms. In this respect digitalisation provides both the means 
and the ends to open up innovation.  

For innovation ecosystems to foster university business cooperation the following key aspects 
are of major importance: 

•  Framing,  which  means  to  establish  an  innovation  friendly  environment,  including 
innovative mindsets, excellence in competence development, and entrepreneurship. 

• 

Instruments,  which  are  accessible  to  all  players  in  innovation  (universities,  MNCs, 
SMEs, public institutions and society), including possibilities to establish cooperation 
and communication between the different actors. For example, interdisciplinarity and 
creativity  are increasingly  approached through  unconventional  formats  and  activities 
like new emerging digital platforms connecting different stakeholders from all over the 
world. Universities could also open up their facilities by creating open labs aiming to 
share knowledge,  experience,  commitment  and  intellectual  stimulation  with  local 
societies  and  follow  a  challenge-driven  approach  where  students  engage  with 
companies to solve real life problems. 

73 E.g. John Sweeney, Elena Imaretska (2016): Innovative Mindset: 5 Behaviours for Accelerating Breakthroughs. 
Porchlilghtbooks, Milwaukee. 

 
 
 
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•  Support is important: many innovative ecosystems provide financial and non-financial 
support and incentives to innovation (European research programmes, national funding 
programmes, regional initiatives).   

•  The possibility to participate in innovation nowadays has never been as high as it is 
today in Europe.  A large proportion of well-educated people in the society is connected 
to recent challenges and asking for new services and products, which can be widely 
accessible. Examples of these challenges are digitalisation and artificial intelligence, 
but also the Green Deal as stated in the “Agenda for Europe” launched in 201974. The 
recent  Covid-19  crisis  has  created  major  challenges  on  the  labour  market  for  some 
worker categories, but it has also led to major innovation and job creation in new areas.  

Eventually, the terms and conditions may differ in the national contexts for the Recovery 
and Resilience Facility and its €672.5 billion in loans and grants available for reforms and 
investments in EU Member States to mitigate the economic and social impact of the Covid-
19-pandemic75.  But  the  need  to  include  wider  parts  of  the  society  to  unlocking  multiple 
excellences is undisputable, and it reflects opportunities for universities and businesses to 
play a vital  role in the  crisis  recovery  and to modernise Europe’s  economic,  social,  and 
environmental conditions. 

This reflection paper highlights the many different approaches that can be taken to unlock 
systemic  innovation  and  excellence  through  UBC.    Frameworks,  methods  and  practical 
tools exist, that have been developed by researchers and in EU-funded projects.  These 
can often form the backbone to make the shift from project-based initiatives to sustainable 
systemic approaches for long term impact.   

Peer  learning  and  exchange  of  good  practices  on  “what  works”  for  multi-stakeholder 
collaboration  in ecosystems that  promote excellence and  social  innovation  have always 
been  at  the  heart  of  the  UBC.  UBC  could  disseminate  good  practices  through  online 
seminars  with  4  to  5  presentations  of  initiatives,  and  a  facilitator  capturing  the  lessons 
learnt, good practices and the EU added value.  

To join the University-Business Cooperation (UBC) network, join the Microsoft 
Teams Group, stay updated and get involved in future activities of the UBC 
network, please contact the European Commission: 

Mr Paul Tzimas (DG EAC, Unit C1, Innovation and EIT), Paul.Tzimas@ec.europa.eu 

74 My Agenda for Europe.  President European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.  Available at: 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/43a17056-ebf1-11e9-9c4e-01aa75ed71a1 [Accessed April 
21, 2021]  

75 The Recovery and Resilience Facility. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/recovery-
coronavirus/recovery-and-resilience-facility_en [Accessed April 17, 2021] 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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