Page 136 - A Handbook for Academia, Industry and Policymakers: Reinforcing the Innovation-Employability Nexus in the Mediterranean

136 REINFORCING THE INNOVATION-EMPLOYABILITY NEXUS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REINFORCING THE INNOVATION-EMPLOYABILITY NEXUS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 137

Is your Higher Education Institution promoting the
development of an entrepreneurial culture?

HEInnovate – Innovation and

Entrepreneurship in Higher Education

Increasingly, HEIs are confronted by the most difficult • Knowledge exchange and collaboration includes the
social and economic challenges facing our societies, from ‘third mission’ of HEIs, defined as the stimulation, direct
digitalisation, to regional imbalances, skills deficits and application and exploitation of knowledge for the benefit of
social mobility. The most recent example is the Covid-19 the social, cultural and economic development of society.
crisis, where HEIs globally were involved in every element • Digital transformation and capability consider how HEIs
of the response, from mapping the spread of the disease, should optimise and transform digital technologies
to contributing to scientific advisory committees on how to to support innovation and entrepreneurship in higher
manage lock down, to developing a vaccine and treatments education.
for those infected. It is unsurprising when considering the • Internationalisation considers how HEIs collaborate with
breadth of these challenges that the mandates of HEIs are partners abroad, as well as take advantage of alternative
becoming ever more complex and broader. ways of thinking.
• Measuring impacts focuses on how HEIs should assess
In this context, HEIs need to examine whether traditional its impact on its eco-system and networks, combining
approaches to teaching, research and collaboration allow quantitative and qualitative assessments.
them to be their most effective. This ties into the growing
interest in the innovation and entrepreneurship agenda with HEIs can consider their performance against these dimensions
the aim to implement a faster and more reactive pace for using a free self-assessment tool developed by the HEInnovate
research, a teaching approach focused on creativity and team. Over 1200 HEIs globally have downloaded the tool.
problem solving and an outward collaborative working with
public and private actors in the community. In parallel, the OECD and the European Commission also
undertake Country Reviews, which assess the implementation
The HEInnovate framework developed by the OECD and of the entrepreneurial and innovation agenda in a given EU
the European Commission brings these strands on HE country by evaluating both the national policy framework and
reform and innovation & entrepreneurship together. The institutional practices. There have been nine such reviews so
project aims to support individual HEIs and national higher far: Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Austria, Croatia, Italy,
education systems become more innovative as well as Ireland and the Netherlands. (Reviews for Sweden, Lithuania
generate new development opportunities. and Greece are currently in train).

The HEInnovate approach is based eight dimensions of It is clear from the country reviews that HEIs have developed
innovation and entrepreneurship: a number of promising initiatives and programmes that go
• Leadership and governance which concerns the strategic outside the traditional boundaries of teaching and researching
support for innovation and entrepreneurship within an and into how the HEI supports the response to wider
institution. economics and social needs. There were examples across
• Organisational capacity focuses on the capacity of an the each of the dimensions of the HEInnovate framework, but
organisation to implement its strategy, with a focus on when considering the conclusions of the country reviews in
funding, people and incentives. the round, the ‘entrepreneurial agenda’ of HEIs is typically
• Entrepreneurial teaching and learning, includes the based on:
direct learning about entrepreneurship as well as • Supporting start-ups
the development of a wider entrepreneurial mind-set • Developing an entrepreneurial mind-set of students and
when it comes to problems solving, including using staff (21st Century Skills)
interdisciplinary approaches. • Participating in regional/urban development (smart
• Preparing and supporting entrepreneurs focuses on how specialisation strategy)
an HEI empowers students, graduates and staff to start
businesses.
www.heinnovate.eu