As part of an increased strategic attention to their third mission, many European universities are widening their approaches to innovation. Moving beyond narrow notions of technology transfer and building on decades of research cooperation with industry, cooperation with external partners becomes more often co-creative, more embedded in inter-disciplinary challenge-driven cooperation, as well as more central to universities’ strategic development. A deeper and more long-term engagement with selected external partners include new formats of research cooperation as well as new approaches to teaching and curricula, including a greater emphasis on problem-based and challenge-driven learning with exposure to real-life problems and professional practice in team-based learning environments.
Reichert Consulting studies and supports these institutional transformations, from broad angle comparative studies, such as the European-wide study on The Role of Universities in Regional Innovation Ecosystems for the European University Association or a study on a regional innovation system, such as Lower Austria, for the European Commission, to supporting individual regions or universities in their quest for a more strategic approach to the university’s role as an innovation motor in their regions.
