Developed by ECOSTAR and powered by Fledge, the Nature-Accelerator is an intensive eight week acceleration programme for nature-based startups. Find out more on Ecostarhub.com
6. Knowledge Alliances
Who are they?
HEIs 38%
SMEs 27%
NGOs 10%
LARGE ENTEPRISEs 8%
RESEARCH INSTITUTEs 5%
PUBLIC BODIES
4%
OTHER 8%
KA Funding 2014-2018
8. What makes ECOSTAR one of the
most successful KA project?
INNOVATION
1ST Nature-
Accelerator in the
world
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
In Environmental
and Forestry
faculties
EXCHANGE OF
KNOWLEDGE
new curriculum
and learning
mobility
Notas del editor
Introduction ~
What is Knowledge Alliances?
transnational projects which bring higher education institutions and business together to work on common issues.
What does Knowledge Alliances aim for?
to help strengthen Europe's capacity to innovate and to support the modernisation of Europe's higher education systems.
Knowledge Alliances intend to achieve one or more of the following aims (specific objectives):
Develop new, innovative and multidisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning
Stimulate entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skills of higher education teaching staff and company staff
Facilitate the exchange, flow and co-creation of knowledge
In other words:
Boosting Innovation in HE, business sector and in the broader socio-economic environment
Developing Entrepreneurship mind-set and competences
Stimulating the flow and Exchange of Knowledge between HE and enterprises
As a result, KA will indirectly strengthen Employability and equip future professionals with competences increasingly demanded in the job market
Fact: How Knowledge Alliances’ funding has grown over the past few years (2014-2018)
The funds allocated to the Action have more than tripled over the years since the beginning (8mln in 2014 – 28mln 2018) for a total of more than 80M€
Each project can receive up to 1M€ co-financing.
More in detail:
92 projects
983 organisations (+/- 850 if we remove recurrent organisations)
40 participating countries (23 as coordinator)
Other also includes social partners, other representative of working life
Mutual benefits for HEIs and Enterprises
For HEIs:
New education & training products enriching universities' catalogues
Educational content more in line with companies' needs and the world of work
Development of important links with economic actors
Transformation of research work into business activities
For Enterprises:
Involvement in a process of knowledge co-creation and share;
Innovation transfers increasing their innovation capacities
to interact with a pool of students that had a new way of thinking and problem solving capacity
Quality training for managers and staff, entrepreneurs
Identification and recruitment of young talents
For Students:
Better employability prospects; contacts with the world of businesses
Development of entrepreneurial skills
Needs-driven and competence-oriented learning opportunities
EU support:
KAs offer co-funding opportunities for organisations in any discipline and sector, as well as cross–sectoral cooperation.
KA community:
Join the growing KA community, share project's ideas and create synergies (cross-fertilization of ideas)
ECOSTAR project addresses all the three KA’s specific objectives:
Innovation → 1st nature-accelerator in the world
Entrepreneurship → by fostering entrepreneuship education in the environmental and forestry faculties (lack of enterpreneurial skills in this sector
Flow and Exchange of knowledge →, as a result of university-business cooperation the partnership:
set up a new curriculum in line with the sector needs recognised and credited
Organised University and company staff/students mobility and exchanges among participating HEIs and businesses
Employability → equip future professionals with competences increasingly demanded in the job market
and ECOSTAR project goes beyond
Scale: local, global (involves startups, experts from different local realities with both local and global visions)
Impact: short term (help build individuals, universities, startups) + long term (creates a strong network for resources and
Cooperation: not about competition but about cooperation ; mobility among partners