U!REKA European University received significant EIT funding for fostering entrepreneurship training and start-up support

Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, together with the U!REKA European University Alliance and business partners, has been awarded major project funding from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Higher Education Institutions (HEI) Initiative. The U!nnovate Project is an important boost to enhance the innovation capacity and entrepreneurial mindset of U!REKA universities and foster collaboration between academia, industry and regional authorities. Starting in April, coordinated by Metropolia UAS, and overseen by EIT Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC), U!nnovate aims to turn the innovative ideas of students, staff and stakeholders for climate-neutral and smart cities into new businesses contributing to sustainable future.

The vision of U!nnovate is to boost European competitiveness in the domain of climate-neutral and smart cities through strengthening entrepreneurial and innovation competences, making U!REKA a true entrepreneurial university. We envisage that by participating in the HEI Initiative and implementing our innovation strategy, we will be recognized in 2030 for excellence in:

• Educating, training, and mentoring future entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs in the creation of new start-ups and the transformation of business models within established companies.
• Engaging and incentivising staff and students to commercialise and scale their innovative ideas into businesses, particularly those contributing to climate neutrality.
• Supporting our public sector partners in achieving the goals for climate-neutral and smart cities.

U!nnovate will provide significant new opportunities for 123.000 U!REKA students and 13.000 of staff in terms of entrepreneurship education and support, for example through joint summer schools and climathons.

“Coordinating the U!nnovate proposal was very rewarding because it revealed the great interest and need for such collaboration among our partners and stakeholders. It is through this kind of collaboration that our students, staff and stakeholders become more entrepreneurial and innovative, collaborate with European partners, and equip themselves with the skills and competences to launch their own business,” said Dr Mona Roman, Lead Coordinator of U!REKA European University and Research Director at Metropolia UAS, after receiving news that the proposal was selected.

The U!nnovate partners from Belgium, Czechia, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Portugal and Ukraine are HEIs of U!REKA European University. Furthermore, the consortium is strengthened by business partners as well as the EURASHE (The European Association for the Applied Sciences in Higher Education).

Dr John Edwards, Secretary General of EURASHE and Member of the U!REKA Steering Committee, said that “The HEI Initiative is a fantastic opportunity for European University Alliances to become more entrepreneurial and innovative, focused around address societal challenges such as climate neutral and smart cities. EURASHE will make sure that the results of U!nnovate are sustained and disseminated across the higher education sector”.

More information

Mona Roman
Research Director
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
mona.roman [at] metropolia.fi (mona[dot]roman[at]metropolia[dot]fi)