From Assessment to Action: HEInnovate in the EUt+ Alliance’s EIT HEI Project
By Stylianos Yiatros
Abstract: The EUt+ Alliance used the HEInnovate self-assessment to understand institutional strengths, build a shared innovation vision, and shape the Inno-EUt+ project under the EIT HEI Initiative. By engaging academics, administrators, and students, the alliance developed evidence-based priorities, strengthened collaboration, and created lasting structures that support innovation and entrepreneurship across partner universities.
Could you share some background about your current work and responsibilities?
I am an Associate Professor at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) and coordinator for Innovation and Entrepreneurship within the European University of Technology (EUT+) Alliance.
My background is in structural mechanics, but over the years, I have developed a strong interest in green and clean tech entrepreneurship. Within EUt+1, I focus on building collaboration across partner universities and supporting innovation and entrepreneurship at all levels.
How did you use HEInnovate in the EUt+ Alliance?
We first used the HEInnovate self-assessment while developing our proposal (Inno-EUt+) under the EIT Higher Education Initiative. One representative from each university completed the self-assessment, which helped us to understand each institution’s perspective and areas of strength in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Later, we expanded the exercise to include academic staff, administrative teams, and students. This broader approach gave us a much clearer picture of how innovation and entrepreneurship were viewed across the alliance and how we could improve over time. Each iteration also made us more comfortable with the self-assessment tool and its structure, which became easier to use as we gained experience.
How did you translate the HEInnovate findings into concrete development activities?
The results helped us identify where some universities were stronger and where others could benefit from additional support. For example, certain partners were more advanced in areas such as internationalisation or entrepreneurship, and they were able to share their experience with other members of the alliance.
This process gave us a shared benchmark and helped us prioritise actions. It guided our planning and shaped the key activities of the Innovation Vision Action Plan (IVAP) that we developed under the Inno-EUt+ proposal. HEInnovate made it possible to coordinate our work based on evidence rather than assumptions and to align the alliance’s efforts more effectively.
What challenges did you face when using HEInnovate across the alliance?
Getting everyone to take part was sometimes difficult. In more traditional academic environments, innovation and entrepreneurship can still be seen as secondary to teaching or research. We needed to encourage participation and show the relevance of these topics to different groups.
To do this, we introduced practical activities such as entrepreneurship courses, inclusive innovation training, and the Climate Launchpad competition material for students — a bootcamp for clean technologies that we embedded in the classroom. These initiatives brought together students and staff from different countries, created enthusiasm, and demonstrated the value of innovation in education.
How do you plan to use HEInnovate in the future to support your alliance’s development?
We are currently focused on building the structures that support our long-term vision, but we plan to use HEInnovate again in future project calls, like the EIT HEI call 2025, It will also help us onboard new partner universities and ensure a shared understanding of innovation and entrepreneurship across the alliance.
Even in earlier project applications that were not successful, HEInnovate proved useful for comparing results and integrating new members into the process.
How would you describe the value of HEInnovate for alliance-wide development?
HEInnovate has been one of the key tools that helped us strengthen collaboration within EUt+. It brought together a very diverse group of people from different disciplines and national contexts and allowed us to work towards a common goal.
It also helped us move from isolated efforts to a shared vision for innovation and entrepreneurship across our universities. Many of the initiatives we started through HEInnovate still continue today, and I see the tool as an important part of how we will grow as an alliance in the years ahead.
1 The 9 partner HEIs are: Université de Technologie de Troyes (France), Hochschule Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Riga Technical University (Latvia), Technological University Dublin (Ireland), Technical University of Sofia (Bulgaria), Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (Spain), Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (Romania), Cyprus University of Technology (Cyprus) and University of Cassino and Southern Lazio (Italy).