On July 5th and 6th, 2022, representatives of EELISA UNFOLDS, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship dimension of EELISA, had the pleasure to participate in the first in-person event “Innovation Vision Action Plan” (IVAP) Workshop organized by the EIT (European Institute of Innovation and Technology). This workshop took place at the World Trade Centre in Barcelona, Spain, and was part of the EIT’s HEI (Higher Education Institutions) Initiative.
This meeting, which congregated over two hundred professionals, had two main goals: 1) to gather all the project members from Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 and the HEI EIT team, in order to share their insights as well as to ensure awareness of the initiative’s development and direction and 2) to strengthen the impact of the HEIs by creating synergies. In order to achieve this, all participants were provided with essential background, information, and mechanisms to set them up for success. Creating potential partnerships through networking was also a key part of the workshop, as well as reinforcing the engagement of the projects with the EIT and KICs.
The first day started with a welcome session and an introduction to the event. Then, after some introductory remarks, participants were arranged into smaller groups for collaborative sessions focused on creating Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) Ecosystems and debating the “Institutionalization of Change” using the Knowledge Triangle: Research & Technology, Education and Business Creation.
Next, during the second day, the outcomes and conclusions from the collaborative sessions were discussed, together with the current challenges and new possible opportunities
Among the main ideas and conclusions, we had a deep dive into the interest of the European Commission in creating a common knowledge framework and the importance of providing an entrepreneurial mindset and skills to the university community as a way to ease the need to create a new innovation environment.
As a wrap-up, a “World Café” took place. All the members from Cohort 1 presented in a roll-up different I&E Projects related to topics such as Sustainability, Big data, Technology, and new support structures, among others. This way the members from Cohort 2 could have an initial guide to be able to start their projects with a deeper knowledge and certainty.
By Leticia Rodríguez Herrero & Elena Berga Montardit.
EELISA Unfolds Project Managers.
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EELISA Unfolds is co-funded by the European Union and EIT Digital. Learn more here.