Building a Shared Innovation Action Plan through HEInnovate: The YUFE Alliance Experience
Abstract
Within the YUFE (Young Universities for the Future of Europe) Alliance¹, ten universities used HEInnovate to assess the Alliance's innovation and entrepreneurial capacity to develop a shared Innovation Action Plan. Drawing on the perspectives of students, work package teams and institutional coordinators, the process created a common understanding of priorities and demonstrated how HEInnovate can support collective reflection and action across a university alliance.
Could you introduce yourself and the Alliance in which you work?
My name is María José Herrero-Villa, and I work at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) in Spain, where I am Head of the Innovation Ecosystem Development Unit at the Support Service for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. UC3M is one of ten research-intensive members of the YUFE Alliance, which aims to shape a holistic and inclusive future for European learners. We have pioneered the student journey, most visibly through our joint Bachelor in Urban Sustainability Studies, and our Student Forum has been part of the Alliance since the beginning. Within YUFE I am the technical coordinator for entrepreneurship and innovation since 2019. I am also a member of the HEInnovate expert group, contributing to Train the Trainers programme, workshops and the development of HEInnovate resources.
What led YUFE to engage with HEInnovate, and why at that stage?
The reason was practical. Within the work package I am involved in, we are responsible for the YUFE Innovation Platform, a digital space where people across the Alliance can meet around shared interests in innovation and entrepreneurship. During the pilot, we did not manage to demonstrate how the platform would be used, so we paused. After some consideration, we realised that before developing the platform we needed a shared innovation strategy, co-created across the Alliance. This would provide a more accurate picture of how innovation was perceived and encourage commitment to a plan that members had helped to shape. HEInnovate provided the framework for building that common understanding and turning it into a shared strategy.
Which HEInnovate resources did you use, and who took part across the Alliance?
We used the self-assessment and the action cards, and I coordinated the process as the Alliance’s HEInnovate Champion. Our guiding principle was that different audiences need different resources. We defined three target groups, with a good understanding of the Alliance: the Student Forum; the Executive Committee, which brings together the institutional coordinators and the central office; and the work package leaders, who involved their task forces. Five students were trained to use the tool and its terminology before facilitating workshops with their peers using the action cards. The executive committee used benchmarking cases instead, as they were better suited to their limited time.
We received more than thirty responses, well above what we would normally expect. We attribute that to the way the exercise was presented: as a way to capture stakeholder perceptions and provide a basis for dialogue and collective reflection. Responses were distributed almost equally across the three groups, giving us a balanced picture of the Alliance.
What did the self-assessment reveal about the alliance?
Two things stood out. The first was that our position in entrepreneurship was more modest than we had assumed. On entrepreneurial teaching and learning, and on preparing and supporting entrepreneurs, we scored lower than expected. Assessing the Alliance revealed patterns that were not visible from individual institutional perspectives. The second was that organisational capacity emerged as the dimension with the greatest potential for further development. Although less visible than teaching or entrepreneurship activities, it underpins how knowledge, practices and resources are shared across the Alliance. The assessment reminded us that these enabling capacities need as much attention as more tangible initiatives.
Which actions have followed from the results?
The most important outcome was not simply the YUFE Innovation Action Plan itself, but the fact that it was developed collectively. The assessment generated around 28 proposed actions, which were prioritised through a collaborative process into eight actions organised around three goals: building ecosystem connections, supporting entrepreneurship and scaling impact.
We deliberately separated strategic goals, agreed by the governance bodies, from the actions proposed by the Alliance. This shared approach has given members a stronger sense of ownership, and we believe that will also support successful implementation.
What proved most difficult, particularly for an Alliance of ten universities?
The challenges were organisational rather than technical. Because participation is voluntary, much of the work was engaging people and building support, and the value had to be communicated differently for each audience. Some coordinators first saw the exercise as belonging to a single work package, so part of the process was showing its relevance to everyone. Coordinating ten countries also takes time, but the experience demonstrated that investing in communication and engagement is essential for building a shared approach.
What would you recommend to another Alliance considering HEInnovate?
Engage the students first. That was our most effective driver: once colleagues saw the students involved and invested in the results, the wider Alliance was far more willing to take part. We assessed YUFE as one institution rather than averaging the scores of its ten universities. Although this produced a lower overall score, we felt it better reflected the gaps the Alliance exists to address. Guide people to the exact resources rather than leaving them to explore the tool alone, since anyone not already motivated soon gives up. And work in parallel: solve problems at your own university and across the Alliance together, not one after the other. Fixing something locally first often means redoing it later to fit the Alliance.
How do you intend to use HEInnovate in the future?
We regard HEInnovate as a continuing process. It gives us the baseline against which to assess whether the action plan has led to change. We expect to revisit our weakest dimensions within about a year and to repeat the full assessment within two years. Our ambition is a stronger position in entrepreneurial teaching and learning, and in preparing and supporting entrepreneurs. The value, in our experience, lies in the loop: you assess, you act, and you return to see what has moved. That continuous cycle of reflection and improvement is what makes HEInnovate valuable for a university alliance like YUFE.
That is why HEInnovate is a very good driving and supporting tool for collective effort and co-creative action, and why we expect to keep returning to it.
- The YUFE Alliance consists of ten universities: Maastricht University, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, the University of Antwerp, the University of Bremen, the University of Eastern Finland, the University of Essex, the University of Rijeka, the University of Cyprus and Sorbonne Nouvelle University, together with two non-academic partners, the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the Adecco Group.