Accessibility Tools
Innovation is a key strategic priority for universities. It draws on their research and education missions as well as their role as an honest broker at the nexus of different sectors and communities.
Universities are critical to developing, attracting and retaining human talent, promoting entrepreneurship, and facilitating uptake of new technologies through cooperation with business as well as through start-ups and spin-outs. The direct and indirect contributions of universities go far beyond marketable products, including innovations that promote sustainability and citizen engagement in partnership with society. The university sector is therefore ideally suited to “connect the dots” in innovation ecosystems due to its impartiality and the fact that it is driven by curiosity and long-term perspectives, rather than by commercial interests and short-term goals.
These achievements are showcased by the evidence base developed by EUA in 2021 through its first ever survey on universities and innovation. With data from 166 institutions in 28 countries, the survey provides a Europe-wide picture of innovation at universities in terms of their institutional capacity to engage in innovation activities, and of their specific contributions to the green and digital transitions. The resulting recommendations to policy makers, funders, and universities will drive EUA’s efforts to enhance universities’ innovation capacity and their contribution to European innovation ecosystems in future years.
Consult the results of EUA’s innovation survey
This work was preceded by a major study on the “Role of Universities in Regional Innovation Ecosystems” published in 2019. In addition, this study’s main recommendations for improving the effectiveness of European regional research and innovation initiatives are reflected in further EUA work on smart specialisation strategies and the future of innovation ecosystems.
The results of this work will feed into the implementation of EUA’s Innovation Agenda 2026 and its three key priorities: promoting a comprehensive understanding of innovation, building institutional innovation capacity, competence and culture, and boosting universities’ honest broker role in innovation for a sustainable future. To achieve this, the Association is working closely with members across Europe, particularly its Expert Group on Innovation which advises on input to policy initiatives and the planning of activities with university leaders, regional and national policy makers and other stakeholders.
Discover EUA’s Innovation Agenda
University R&I, and its synergies with education and service to society, is the premier gateway to the knowledge and skills needed for scientific progress and sustainable societal development. ...
The wide-ranging ambitions of the European Green Deal provide a policy framework to integrate the scientific, educational, and institutional dimensions of universities’ contribution to the green tra ...
Developing a comprehensive approach to innovation for the benefit of universities is at the core of the European University Association’s vision for the future of European higher education and resea ...
The European University Association welcomes the European Commission’s Communication on A New European Innovation Agenda, notably as an overarching innovation agenda is needed to tackle specific bot ...
This report provides in-depth analysis of the results of the first-ever Europe-wide survey on universities and innovation. ...
This EUA position outlines the preliminary findings of a major study on innovation at European universities. It captures the different levels of innovation capacity at universities, as well as how the ...
The process to renew the European Research Area (ERA) is gathering pace and is set to continue in the coming weeks, months and years. Building on previous policy positions, this policy input further e ...
The European Commission’s Industrial Strategy for Europe and the European Digital Strategy launched in the spring of 2020 offer an opportunity for a broad and holistic approach to fundamental challe ...
Universities are moving away from linear concepts of innovation to closer co-creative approaches with external partners, which help them take on a new central role in their innovation ecosystems. This ...
The next six months will be an important period for policy makers, the university sector and many other stakeholders engaged in Research and Innovation Smart Specialisation Strategies (RIS3). ...
The European University Association (EUA) welcomes the European Commission Joint Research Centre’s report on “A Regional Innovation Impact: Assessment Framework for universities”. The ...
In this reaction to the European Commission’s Communication on “Artificial Intelligence for Europe”, EUA has underlined how universities can contribute to develop AI for th ...
To maximise the effectiveness of Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) in developing regional innovation ecosystems, it is important to fully capitalise on tangible and intangible assets that uni ...
This document sets out the response of the European University Association (EUA) to the EC public consultation on smart specialisation. EUA has prepared this response in consultation with its Expert G ...
The European University Association (EUA) appreciates the European Commission’s interest in fostering innovation in Europe and welcomes the discussion on ideas for a European Innovation Council ...
This report presents the outcomes of the first meeting of EUA’s Expert Group on Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3). It specifically makes recommendations for act ...
Universities are uniquely placed to support regional development across the linked domains of knowledge generation, innovation and education and European universities endorse the concept of Smart Spec ...
All universities are significantly dependent upon public funding as a major source of support for their research programmes. The difference between private and public universities is in the ...
The modernisation process of universities has historically highlighted the necessity of providing support structures to facilitate contacts and relationships between research groups and the outsi ...
The EUIMA Collaborative Research project used two complementary approaches to collect data on university-business cooperation – in-depth case studies through questionnaires and workshops. The&n ...
How universities can be part of smart specialisation was the question discussed by participants at a major Commission conference on 20 June 2014. The President of the European University Association ( ...
On 21 and 22 February 2013 at the premises of the European Commission Joint Research Centre, the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), in Seville (Spain) a group of experts from ...
EUA commissioned this study entitled The Rise of Knowledge Regions: Emerging Opportunities and Challenges for Universities with the aim of understanding the current role of universities and futur ...
Research Strategy Development in European Universities grew out of EUA’s study Trends IV: European Universities Implementing Bologna (2005) which, in the course of analysing how universities ar ...
This Handbook describes a voluntary programme of Responsible Partnering aimed at improving the organisation, management and overall effectiveness of joint research and strategic knowledge transfe ...
EUA presented the findings of its survey on innovation at European universities at an event in Brussels on 10 November 2021. ...
On 21 November, the European University Association’s first Research & Innovation Forum took place in Brussels. ...
On 17 September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the Commissioners-designate and their portfolios. ...
Too often, European regulations and directives have been proposed with far-reaching consequences for universities, research centres and the people who work there, but with little or no consideration o ...
Alongside fellow European higher education and research stakeholders, the European University Association has reacted to a recent statement from the Board of the European Innovation Council (EIC) on t ...
On 30 March, members of the new EUA Expert Group on Innovation came together for a first meeting in Brussels. ...
Today, the Council of the European Union adopted Conclusions on the New European Innovation Agenda. The European University Association (EUA) welcomes this decision and notes the emphasis on a broader ...
Along with member states and associated countries, stakeholder organisations engaged in the new European Research Area (ERA) have been invited to express their commitments towards the ERA Actions. The ...
The EuroScience Open Forum 2022 (ESOF2022) will take place from 13 to 16 July 2022 in Leiden, the Netherlands. Several EUA colleagues will organise and contribute to various sessions during the confer ...
On 21 November, a high-level roundtable as part of the European University Association’s 2024 R&I Forum will delve into questions raised by the renewed interest in a fifth freedom to enhance res ...
For Karl Tombre, universities need broad innovation strategies to tackle the immense challenges of this century, but this means looking beyond the technology transfer office and moving past outdated c ...
A new Finnish pilot scheme for doctoral programmes offers a transformative model for higher education, emphasising interdisciplinarity, real-world relevance and mental health support, states Minna Hen ...
To build a European R&I system that is sustainable and based on excellence, effective university leadership that centres people is crucial. For Senena Corbalán, EUA’s Research & Innovation ...
Reacting to EUA’s Research and Innovation Agenda 2027, Sebastian Wörwag describes how universities are the engines that will transform our societies through transnational and transdisciplinary exch ...
Wim Melis describes how a request for independent advice has grown into a constructive, mutually beneficial collaboration between the University of Greenwich and two local councils. ...
For James Livesey, the current moment in history demands original and profound institutional innovation on the part of universities. In this article, he outlines how EUA’s Research and Innovation Ag ...
Commenting on the launch of EUA’s Green Deal roadmap for universities, EUA’s Sergiu-Matei Lucaci notes in Research Europe that driving sustainability means reshaping teaching, operations, strategy ...
Societal innovation processes require universities to act as agents of change, but is this easily reconciled with the intellectual and ethical challenges of truth-seeking? Stefan Herzig explains the p ...
EUA’s newly published Innovation Agenda will help to mobilise and boost the university sector’s innovation capacity for greater strategic engagement to tackle societal challenges, writes Sergiu-Ma ...
An unparalleled survey looks at innovation at universities across Europe. EUA expert Stephane Berghmans breaks down the findings, explaining what must be done to boost capacity and build vibrant innov ...
All universities need more autonomy to be innovative, not only those engaged in the European Universities Initiative. EUA expert Anna-Lena Claeys-Kulik writes that limiting flexible collaboration opti ...
Change is in the air. The Covid-19 crisis has turned our lives upside down, but well before this happened there was already a palpable feeling that today’s challenges are changing society in unpredi ...
Providing students with the skills for multidisciplinary collaboration and entrepreneurship supports social impact. The Tampere Universities community promotes this endeavour through multidisciplinary ...
Europe must connect its ambition of being a digital leader with initiatives already happening at its universities, says EUA Secretary General Amanda Crowfoot in an editorial in The Parliament Magazine ...
Universities together with business partners are the motors of regional development. As EUA’s Lidia Borrell-Damian and Thomas Jorgensen explain, by fostering the link between education, research and ...
Jean Chambaz, president of Sorbonne University, talks with EUA about the importance of innovation capacity, funding and ecosystems.You have presided over an important merger of University Pierre and M ...
Alexandros Papaderos of the Technical University of Munich talks with EUA about the importance of co-creation, the two types of research and university missions.Co-creation between universities, stude ...
Innovation is increasingly important for universities – as it is for society. Universities are one of the strands of the so-called “triple helix”, providing impactful research to sustain competi ...
The increased focus on innovation as a key driver for our societies is influencing every single university mission. As project-based learning and co-creation in research move into the mainstream of un ...
A stronger EU industrial policy is in the cards, including more investments in innovation, writes EUA Rolf Tarrach for The Parliament Magazine.A stronger EU industrial policy is in the cards, includin ...
