The project “RIS4CIVIS” has for main objective to support the Research and Innovation dimension of the CIVIS European University in synergy with its education component.
RIS4CIVIS will enable the CIVIS Alliance to pave the way and pool out its expertise to address the 21st-century challenges through world-class R&I and share recommendations and best practices with the other European Universities Alliances.
For CIVIS to achieve this objective, we aim to develop an integrated, long-term R&I Strategy, based on our complementary strengths, but also addressing obstacles that stand in the way of deeper R&I cooperation. In this regard, our strategy takes into consideration the important roles that academia, industry, government, civil society and the environment play in R&I.
By assessing our strengths, finding shared priorities for development and improvement, and testing innovative measures, we are developing a roadmap for the future of research and innovation in CIVIS.
The RIS4CIVIS project integrates the following dimensions as key conditions for successful cooperation between modern, forward-looking Universities (‘Transformational Modules’):
1. Developing a Common Research and Innovation Strategy
2. Sharing Infrastructures
3. Reinforcing Academia-Business R&I Cooperation
4. Strengthening Human Capital
5. Mainstreaming of Open Science
6. Embedding Citizens and Society.
For each of these six ‘Transformation Modules’, we will:
1. Establish, through intensive benchmarks, the current situation across our Alliance and
define the ideal endpoint;
2. Identify, through consensus-building, Roadmaps to reach these endpoints and to remove
legal, regulatory, financial or other barriers in the short-, medium- and long-terms: where
the removal of barriers is not in our hands, recommendations will be developed for national and
European policy-makers;
3. Implement our case studies-based Roadmaps, thereby testing and validating them.
The knowledge gained in each of these activities, across all six Transformation Modules, will nurture the ongoing development of the CIVIS Research & Innovation Strategy. We will synthesise the outcomes of the benchmarking, consensus-building and case studies phases into a CIVIS Institutional Transformation Model to serve as a source of inspiration for other European Universities wishing to engage in R&I cooperation as well as for the European Commission in designing its future programmes and policies.