Periodic Reporting for period 2 - INNOV-8-2-CREATE (INNOV-8-2-CREATE Cooperation through acceleration)
Reporting period: 2024-02-01 to 2025-01-31
The European Union and the world face a number of profound challenges such as climate, geopolitics and public health. To overcome these all players in the quadruple helix must come together and cooperate on a level never seen before (HORIZON EUROPE STRATEGIC PLAN 2021 – 2024). This proposal will bring together academia, national and regional authorities, businesses, investors and all innovation stakeholders to directly bridge the innovation divide between territories, generations and regional cultures and meet these challenges. INNOV-8-2-CREATE will deliver transformative change that will embed processes, structures and systems focused on future proofing and institutionalising innovation across our ecosystems with universities acting as engines of innovation.
The INNOV-8-2-CREATE Programme prioritised fostering innovation and collaboration through various activities. These included - developing technology readiness levels (TRLs), enhancing innovator readiness levels (IRLs), professional skill development, completing Lean Canvas models, grant writing, intellectual property (IP) protection, and promoting ethical entrepreneurship. Noteworthy achievements so far include advancing technologies through TRL stages, equipping participants with essential skills, securing funding, emphasizing ethical entrepreneurship, and safeguarding intellectual property. This was achieved through TRL and IRL specific pre-accelerator style courses. Overall, the programme has strengthened innovation and collaboration within participating organisations, enriching the entrepreneurial landscape and driving sustainable growth.
The INNOV-8-2-CREATE Programme has demonstrated notable outcomes and holds promise for further impact. These include supporting innovation capacity, fostering collaboration, advancing technology, and promoting ethical entrepreneurship. The INNOV-8-2-CREATE Toolkit has been developed to enabled strong, moderate and modest innovators to assess and improve their innovative capacity and to encourage organisations at different innovator levels to collaborate and work together. To sustain and expand these achievements, several key needs must be addressed. Securing sustainable funding sources, continuing capacity-building efforts, engaging stakeholders effectively, implementing robust evaluation mechanisms, and enhancing communication strategies are imperative to ensuring further uptake and success of the project.