Ideas Forward partnering with six European universities to boost entrepreneurship, with support from EIT
Ideas Forward is pleased to announce that we have partnered with six universities across Europe looking to promote venture creation by staff and students, in the frame of project “AccEnt” – Accelerating Innovation and Entrepreneurial Excellence in Higher Education Institutes.
The project aims to improve core entrepreneurial activities at three different levels: students (startups); faculty and researchers (spin-offs), and ecosystems (scale-ups, open innovation).
Running for 24 months, the AccEnt project will support at least 50 start and scale-ups, train over 1000 students, train and mentor over 150 faculty/staff, improve 20 entrepreneurship support and technology transfer structures, and establish 10 new partnerships, both locally and at a European scale.
The project receives funding from the EIT HEI Initiative: Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education. This initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) aims to boost the entrepreneurial and innovation capacity of higher education institutions (HEIs) across Europe. Partnership with non-academic organisations, like Ideas Forward, is an important part of the initiative to create synergies between industry and HEIs.
The AccEnt consortium comprises six universities and our venture studio – Ideas Forward. We will be working with:
- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece – project lead
- Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, Belgium
- Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands
- Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Spain
- University of Macerata, Italy
- Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej, Poland
Under the EIT HEI Initiative, the project will receive funding of €300,000 for the project’s first phase running until December 2022, with the possibility of getting extended for 18 more months and an additional €900,000 of funding.
About the EIT HEI Initiative
The EIT HEI Initiative is a key objective for the European Institute of Innovation and Technology as part of its new strategy. The initiative aims to support HEIs with expertise and coaching, access to the EIT innovation ecosystem, the largest in Europe, and funding, enabling them to develop innovation action plans complementing the needs of individual HEIs.
About the EIT
The EIT strengthens Europe’s ability to innovate by powering solutions to pressing global challenges and by nurturing entrepreneurial talent to create sustainable growth and skilled jobs in Europe. The EIT is an EU body and an integral part of Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. The Institute supports dynamic pan-European partnerships, EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities, among leading companies, research labs and universities.
About Ideas Forward
Ideas Forward is a technology venture studio based in Thessaloniki, Greece. We build and back ventures that transform cutting-edge ICT into market innovation. Working with organizations large and small we operate as co-founders, co-investors, consultants and R&D partners. Through our Community Lab we work with academia, industry, public institutions and civil society organizations sharing the view that innovation-driven entrepreneurship can be a force of positive change.
Read more about the AccEnt project at the EIT HEI website and at the EIT Raw Materials website.