European Innovation Agenda: UAS4EUROPE presents the innovative power of HAWs in the European Research Area

05/12/2022

The network of European universities of applied sciences (HAWs), UAS4EUROPE, has published „A UAS’ers guide to building innovation ecosystems” in connection with the European Innovation Agenda (EIA). The guide uses quantitative data to document the statistically measurable influence of HAWs on Europe's innovative strength and serves as a basis for constructive engagement in the implementation of the EIA.

Especially in the three categories "patent applications and quality", "entrepreneurship" and "research and development offers to regional SMEs", the guide presents a measurable added value of HAWs on the regional economy. While the EIA aims to promote Europe as a global innovation leader, HAWs/universities of applied sciences play a unique role in the European innovation landscape. Not only do they educate the talents of tomorrow through challenging research and education, but they also actively act as intermediaries or connectors between innovation actors within and outside their regions.

The EIA focuses on five flagship initiatives:

Improving access to finance;

Increasing the use of regulatory sandboxes and public procurement;
Accelerating and strengthening European innovation ecosystems;
Attracting top technology talent;
Improving policy support to states.

Universities of Applied Sciences are already contributing to the implementation of at least three of these flagship initiatives, namely through:

Networking innovation ecosystem actors within and across regions,
Fostering the talent of tomorrow through practice-oriented research and education,
Establishing experimental spaces for students and start-ups.

In a second part, the guide presents seven practical examples from across Europe of how HAWs can link different actors both within their innovation ecosystems and across borders. One German example is "Start for Future" of the Strascheg Centre for Entrepreneurship (SCE) of the Munich University of Applied Sciences. "Start for Future" is an alliance of actors from academia, the start-up scene, industry and public institutions to create a network of European innovation ecosystems.