Eötvös Loránd University to lead new eit-funded project for boosting innovation and entrepreneurship
The new project called InnoChange: Driving Change and Capacity Building Towards Innovative, Entrepreneurial Universities, led by ELTE Faculty of Informatics, aims to increase the entrepreneurial and innovation capacity and attitude of higher education institutions (HEIs) and to strengthen innovation ecosystems in Central and Eastern Europe to better integrate them into and engage them with Europe. The partners’ complementary expertise creates a solid foundation for the implementation of Knowledge Triangle-based innovation education.
InnoChange Consortium is strongly linked with EIT Digital and aims to expand the network to enhance digital transformation. The strengths of the project stem from the its academic scope (informatics and digital transformation) and the large diversity provided by university environments, industrial ecosystems and private organizations.
InnoChange consortium was brought to life by the Faculty of Informatics of Eötvös Loránd University – a member of EIT Digital and the founding higher education institution of EIT Digital Budapest Node – as the coordinating institution. Within the EIT Digital co-operation ELTE Faculty of Informatics has provided an opportunity for more than 100 master's and doctoral students to participate in their programme, while making the Innovation & Entrepreneurship (I&E) module of the course available to hundreds of Hungarian undergraduate, master's and doctoral students, as well. In line with the strategy of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology, ELTE Faculty of Informatics has a strong focus on innovation and promoting cooperation among higher education institutions in Central Europe.
Introducing a new innovation model, the consortium will develop and improve an entrepreneurial education curriculum and an associated teacher training program at partner HEIs, welcome and nurture innovation from all corners of student, faculty, and research activities at the university. Furthermore, it will provide effective support to worthy early-stage innovation projects and build a pragmatic, yet comprehensive network of multi-faceted industry partnerships and enable support structures for entrepreneurship communities at HEIs through mutual learning.
In the first six months of the project:
InnoChange will develop:
- innovation & entrepreneurship training materials for students and staff,
- profiles of existing entrepreneurial communities and support structures across the consortium,
- a multi-annual HEI transferability plan to achieve institutional change,
- guidelines for ensuring InnoChange's inclusion and sustainability,
- and an innovation service framework.
InnoChange will train:
130 students, 12 academic and 12 non-academic staff members,
InnoChange will mentor:
- 12 students, 4 academic and 4 non-academic staff members
and InnoChange will support 2 start-ups.,
Being the consortium leader, ELTE Faculty of Informatics will be working together with the following partners:
- Babeș-Bolyai University (Romania)
- Heriot-Watt University (United Kingdom)
- Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice (Slovakia)
- Plovdiv University Paisii Hilendarski (Bulgaria)
- Startup Wise Guys Foundation (Estonia)
- GE Healthcare Hungary (Associated Strategic Partner)
- Campden BRI Hungary (Associated Strategic Partner)
ABOUT THE EIT’S HEI INITIATIVE
The EIT HEI Initiative is a key objective of the EIT's new strategy, the EIT Strategic Innovation Agenda 2021−2027. The initiative aims to support higher education institutions with expertise and coaching, access to the EIT innovation ecosystem and funding, enabling them to develop innovation action plans that will complement the needs of individual higher education institutions. As part of its Pilot Phase, the initiative has provided funding to 23 projects, with the next call for proposals expected towards the end of 2021.
ABOUT THE EIT
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is a unique EU initiative that strengthens Europe’s capacity to innovate by powering solutions to pressing global challenges and by nurturing entrepreneurial talent to create sustainable growth and skilled jobs in Europe. The EIT is Europe's largest innovation network and an integral part of Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. It supports dynamic pan-European partnerships among leading companies, research labs and universities, and EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities.