Partners

University of Primorska has focused on the creation of a vibrant campus life, enhancing community building and implementing green, digital, inclusive projects under the Recovery and Resilience Fund. Moreover, the HEI is part of the European Network of Innovative Higher Education Institutions (ENIHEI) being committed to make HEIs drivers of innovation. It is also involved in the New European Bauhaus Academy Pioneer Hub for Sustainable Built Environments with Renewable Materials (NEBAP Hub). UP counts on a Centre for Artificial Intelligence and a Centre for Knowledge Development and Transfer. It has recently strengthened its role in the region, where the main priorities are, among others, science communication, innovation and technology transfer and student projects carried out in collaboration with companies. The Faculty of Tourism Studies (Turistica) is particularly involved in this. As ENIHEI’s member, Primorska is involved in a forum to exchange knowledge, ideas and experiences to make universities drivers of innovation culture, enable creativity, entrepreneurship and talent. UP will particularly contribute to the design and development of the training programmes and mentoring schemes to foster innovation and entrepreneurship. It would optimise its resources and the partner’s resources and expertise to create a throughout programme in which the university community (students, academics and non-academics) meet the needed skills for knowledge entrepreneurship, with the support of the business partner.

USaar has a great commitment to the idea of transforming Europe through educating and training knowledge-entrepreneurs. The Founder Campus, now renamed as Triathlon – the integrated ecosystem for entrepreneurship, innovation and transfer at USaar – was founded in 1995 and since then it has worked as a start-up consulting, helping the entrepreneurs through mentoring, training and networking with investors or other start-ups. It scored the third place among all medium-sized German universities in terms of quality of support for company founders and in success in creating new companies. Triathlon operates the new building “Innovation Centre” providing office space to scientists working on innovation projects, conference and meeting rooms, and a fabrication laboratory (FabLab). It is now an official offering of USaar’s “Entrepreneurial University”. USaar’s strong international relations’ team will help to set up knowledge exchanges on the top management level of the HEIs to prepare them for a future of sustainable and digital innovation with good strategy and policies. “Triathlon” Unit will incorporate the rationale of this proposal and promote innovation and entrepreneurship by hosting conferences and workshops to share its longstanding experience in turning scientific insight into inventions with practical usefulness, using patents to secure intellectual property rights and prepare spin-offs and licensing to existing companies from industry. Moreover, USaar’s experience with the fabrication laboratory (FabLab) which allows researchers and students to build prototypes and then test them with pilot users, would be shared with the partners and synergies would be established.

 META Group, present in Italy, Belgium, Poland and Slovenia, has been supporting entrepreneurial needs in knowledge-intensive regions (e.g., European Commission, regional governments and development agencies, public and private investors, start-ups and entrepreneurs) and providing technical assistance to innovation ecosystem players in designing and implementing Regional Innovation Strategies for over thirty years now. It supports DG Regio and DG Grow in the field of Smart Specialisation Strategies and Interregional Investment partnerships S3P. It is a leader in driving research results funded by the EC’s Framework Programmes into use, with over 2.000 consortia supported and over 500 companies, accompanied by private investors. Thanks to the assignments completed in EU and direct daily contacts with R&D performers and innovation actors META has access to a wide network of intermediary organisations dealing with SMEs, start-ups and use of R&D results (EBN, INSME, APRE, BAE, EURADA, etc.) and can count on over 20,000 direct contacts and on a reach out of 200,000 companies and start-ups internationally. Moreover, META has links to venture capital funds through META Ventures (MV). It will contribute to BIKE-HEI with its know-how and relations with relevant stakeholders (e.g., EBN – EU Association of Business Innovation and Incubation Centres – and BAE – Business Angels Europe) by improving business opportunities for innovative and knowledge-based entrepreneurs in AI, environmental protection, climate action and green economy; and by spin-off support services in HEIs and strengthening the HEIs’ role in the regional innovation ecosystem.

The Association of Balkan Eco-Innovation (ABE) is a non-profit organisation set up in Novi Sad, Serbia. Its mission is to support innovation actors to develop, test, and marketize solutions for sustainability. This is achieved by creating and leveraging local innovation networks that operate in vertical sectors such as sustainable and regenerative agriculture and green construction. ABE works with regional academia organisations to boost their innovation potential and entrepreneurship spirit, further connecting researchers to innovation networks that can support the development and uptake of their solutions. ABE is a regional leading organisation in the dissemination and communication of R&I activities and results, it will leverage its international experience in communicating project activities and disseminating project results to the right target audiences, selecting the most suitable channels and tools, establishing concrete and impactful strategies to ensure that the project target groups are reached with the appropriate information. While META represents the digital transformation of the twin transition and CESIE ensures social sustainability, ABE’s focus on environmental sustainability closes the circle to the advancement of the twin transition. As a non-profit cluster association, ABE’s role is to develop and coordinate networks that connect the innovation, education, and business actors.

Mariupol University emerged in the same year as Ukraine’s independence and for today 3200 students are enrolled. Over 30 years the institution was actively involved in international cooperation for scientific research, education programmes and cultural initiatives. Forced to leave Mariupol and move to Kyiv, MSU has kept on working and strengthening their relationships with international partners, which was particularly evidenced with its integration as an associated partner in the University European Alliance – T4EU. MSU’s teaching staff of the departments of Economics, Management work out the academic and scientific works connected to the support services, mentorship, funding guidance, and commercialisation strategies, in order to empower knowledge-based entrepreneurs to the local industries and businesses. Students and faculty members are engaged in hands-on innovation through hackathons, competitions, and entrepreneurial training. Innovation and entrepreneurship is also enhanced through curricula design and research projects addressing societal challenges. MSU will contribute to the training programme design with its approach to resilience due to the HEI’s specific expertise of functioning in wartime, providing the results of the research and related studies based on its partnerships with industries, policymakers, and civil society sector. Their wide range of partnerships willing to participate in the project, including SMEs and the local government, will ensure MSU’s ability to implement BIKE-HEI.

CESIE is a European centre of studies and initiatives established in 2001 with a strong social-impact driven work which aims at promoting educational innovation, participation and growth, focusing on individuals and diversity. It benefits from a broad network of partners with more than 3,000 civil society organisations, universities, schools, research centres, public authorities and private entities, youth centres, companies and entrepreneurs in the world. As an accredited Orientation of Vocational Education and Training it contributes to enhancing professionals’ entrepreneurial know-how, through cross-border and cross-sector exchange opportunities to providing new & aspiring entrepreneurs with a chance to learn from experienced entrepreneurs. CESIE’s contribution will be particularly relevant as a catalysing actor in the KTI process and a contributor to the twin transformation as a social impact driven non-profit organisation. It will support the establishment of an ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship. Its long-lasting experience disseminating and communicating project activities will be used to foster impact during the project lifetime and beyond. CESIE has a dedicated team (Communication & Visibility department), and has a great potential for dissemination: newsletters are sent out monthly to 11,000 subscribers to the English version and 15,000 to the Italian ones; the website reaches up to 100,000 visitors a year; official social media web pages count on tens of thousands of followers, making it perfect for leading the innovation-driven partnerships and networking’s work package.

Alicante Science Park stimulates & manages the flow of knowledge & technology between the UA, research institutions, companies & markets to promote the creation and growth of innovative companies through incubation mechanisms and provides other value-added services as well as high-quality infrastructure and facilities to contribute to the economic development of the Region of Valencia by improving business competitiveness, technological development & innovation.