EELISA UNFOLDS is set to become a leading European initiative in the transformation of higher education institutions (HEIs) to key players in the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem by means of actions on:

• innovative student engagement activities;
• new collaborations with external partners looking for cocreation of high-impact social and economic opportunities;
• enhanced structures for creating start-ups and venture builders for spin-offs;
• specific programmes for innovation-driven research;
• the development of an entrepreneurial curricula based on credentials;
• the development of advanced training and mentoring schemes.

The implementation of the IVAP in this proposal is expected to:

• increase student engagement in entrepreneurial activities with a long-term vision where every student within the consortium HEIs has experienced a hands-on entrepreneurial activity;
• position consortium HEIs at the core of their regional and national entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems, and the full consortium as a best practice case in the transformation of HEIs towards innovation and entrepreneurship;
• launch new structures and programmes on start-up creation and venture building for spin-offs to enable all consortium HEIs to become attraction nodes for talent and opportunities withing their respective ecosystems;
• reshape research objectives at HEIs to be guided by innovation opportunities when technologies are mature enough;
• launch a credential that records entrepreneurial activities for students, researchers and staff and becomes a de-facto standard in the long-term;
• develop specific training programmes for professors, professors-to-be and external experts so they are able to deliver both education in entrepreneurship and mentoring in venture creation with a long-term vision for HEIs to enhance entrepreneurship skills.

The pilot project builds on the experience of three leading universities in the entrepreneurial and innovation domains that also look to further enhance their respective track records: Polytechnic University of Madrid, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität ErlangenNürnberg and Budapest University of Technology and Economics. The consortium is complemented by four non-Knowledge and Innovation Community partner HEIs that will benefit from these experiences but also contribute with specific knowledge (École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Scuola Normale Superiore, Polytechnic University of Bucharest and Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies) and two associated partners (ARTES4.0 and Fundación Universidad Empresa) that belong to the knowledge triangle and will help to bridge gaps between the main stakeholders in the ecosystem. All of the HEI members of the consortium are part of the European Engineering Learning Innovation and Science Alliance, meant to define and implement a common model of European engineering rooted in society.