ENGAGE.EU R-I BUILDING ENGAGED RESEARCH AND INNOVATION ECOSYSTEMS

Project Information

ENGAGE EU R-I

Grant agreement ID: 101035807

DOI

10.3030/101035807

Project closed

EC signature date 6 July 2021

Start date 1 October 2021

End date 30 September 2024

Funded under

• SCIENCE WITH AND FOR SOCIETY

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 2 144 865,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITAET MANNHEIM
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ENGAGE EU R-I (ENGAGE.EU R-I BUILDING ENGAGED RESEARCH AND INNOVATION ECOSYSTEMS)

Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2024-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

ENGAGE.EU R&I - Building Engaged Research and Innovation Ecosystems - has been launched under the Horizon 2020 Science with and for Society Work Programme to enlarge the scope of ENGAGE.EU. ENGAGE.EU aims to equip European citizens with the skills and competencies necessary to address and tackle major relevant societal challenges and to this end has outlined four major programme components:

1. ENGAGE.EU Campus – An innovative learning environment for learners of all ages and levels to engage in acquiring modern competences
2. ENGAGE.EU Think Tanks – Formats of advanced studies to further collaboration between researchers, learners, and other stakeholders within the Alliance to gain new scientific insights
3. ENGAGE.EU Labs - Innovative models of collaboration and co-creation for novel education of European citizens
4. ENGAGE.EU Work-integrated Learning Programmes – Bringing actors from outside academia into the learning, research, and innovation arena

With ENGAGE.EU R&I the Alliance aims to complement and strengthen the research and innovation (R&I) dimension of ENGAGE.EU. It provides an innovative learning environment, strengthens ties between researchers and learners and promotes collaboration and co-creation. It extends beyond academia and seeks to engage actors from outside academia in the learning, research, and innovation arena.

ENGAGE.EU R&I engages principal investigators, postdocs, and PhDs to guide and undertake project tasks linked to, among others, talent development, inno-preneurial ecosystems and data management. It aims to report on research findings, legal, regulatory, and financial barriers, and possible solutions to foster cooperation among universities and surrounding ecosystems and reach the following overall objectives:

1. Lay out the foundation for more effective R&I ecosystems at the partner and alliance levels.
2. Reinforce the impact of university research and innovation through strengthened academia-business cooperation and knowledge sharing.
3. Develop and test a common R&I strategy, a rolling thematic challenge-based agenda, and action plans.
4. Focus on integrating plans for ecosystem transformation in the fields of inno-preneurial ecosystems, talent development, Data Management (DM) and Open Science (OS), and dissemination and communication addressed in thematically corresponding work packages.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the first 18 months of ENGAGE.EU R&I the work packages delivered their action plans on talent development, Inno-preneurial Ecosystems, as well as Data Management and Open Science, while also delivering overarching action plans for external relations and funding, a common R&I strategy and agenda, and detailed communication and dissemination plans.

The full implementation of the actions plans was then realised within the tasks that commenced during the final reporting period. The established cooperation within FOREU2, a forum for cooperation between European University Alliances, was intensified and yielded a joint FOREU2 deliverable with the objective to showcase “progress made in the implementation of R&I long-term strategies, in particular via the identification and removal of legal/financial/regulatory barrier(s)”.

In line with the common R&I strategy, the Think Tank in Bergen (March 2024) on “Leading the green transition: Advancing research for sustainable value creation” was successfully implemented. With the Think Tank the Alliance managed to not only facilitate research exchange and networking between researchers from the Alliance partner universities but also connect to the Climate Festival that aims to reach out into society.

To evaluate and strengthen the research dimension within the Alliance qualitative interviews with researchers were conducted to identify barriers and opportunities to international research collaboration. The resulting report gives detailed recommendations for expanding and better facilitating international research collaboration. Moreover, reaching beyond the university walls the Alliance successfully explored inno-preneurial collaboration and managed to conclude multiple partnership agreements. With the ENGAGE.EU R&I Platform for Collective Action the Alliance strengthened the inno-preneurial dimension even further by designing an infrastructure that enables the wider public to participate in ENGAGE.EU R&I activities.

The Staff Academy established during the first reporting period was successfully continued and new courses on inter- and cross-cultural competences were added each semester. Connecting to the courses in the Staff Academy an ENGAGE.EU Leadership Programme was designed to better equip task leaders with the skills relevant to leading tasks in international projects.

To familiarise researchers at the partner universities with Data Management and Open Science training materials and webinars on relevant themes such as FAIR Data and Data Protection and Ethics were made available through the ENGAGE.EU website. Furthermore, a pool of experts was established to assist researchers in matters concerning Data Management and Open Science, and the Data Management Days in Toulouse (March 2024) facilitated an exchange on best practices within the field.

To communicate events and disseminate results from ENGAGE.EU R&I on social media and other relevant channels a dissemination and communication plan has been developed and actively implemented throughout the project. With the Science Communication Workshop in Vienna (September 2023) the Alliance doubled down on dissemination and communication by supporting researchers to more effectively communicate research results to diverse audiences.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Throughout the ENGAGE.EU R&I project the Alliance has sustainably implemented impact actions through its work packages and tasks. Within the inno-preneurial dimension partnership agreements have been designed and concluded to be used for the specific context of ENGAGE.EU. These help to foster innovation in priority areas and further build on the extensive SSH R&I capacities of the Alliance partners’ ecosystems.

Related to HR the Alliance has made strides towards more people-centered organisations by exchanging best practices and providing courses for both academic and non-academic staff with the ENGAGE.EU Leadership Programme and the Staff Academy respectively. This approach of connecting the scope of research to a broader societal public is also reflected in the science communication workshop that was an important event within the work package on dissemination and communication.

The publication platform - a platform for sharing digital collaborative resources as well as collaborative publications within the consortium - and the research community platform (Erasmus+) could be used as effective models for modernisation of research and innovation processes. Furthermore, the Data Management Days proved a format suitable for exchanging best practices in Data Management and Open Science and supporting transformation at the institutional level. On the ENGAGE.EU website training materials and webinars sustainably provide the knowledge to keep this transformation going.

All in all, the Alliance has thus achieved meaningful impact on both its envisaged impact goals:

1. Tangible progress towards a common institutional transformation of universities
2. Identification of a variety of successful models for modernisation and transformation at research and innovation levels

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