Abstract:

Innovation has been debated and evaluated as the engine that leverages the evolution of goods and services. It is also the inspiration and nourishment of Entrepreneurship. Side by side, Innovation and Entrepreneurship struggle to reshape the mentality and functioning of society. The role of Higher Education Institutions in promoting this innovative activity is to stimulate the evolution toward a knowledge-based society, which is highly important, entailing a high demand for new studies. Higher education institutions have long actively contributed with all their studies and training to do more, but the promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship in the students themselves has only intensified in recent years. The focus on partnerships has been increasingly valued, namely with the industry itself or the generalized market, and with the collaboration of research centers. From these synergies, a triangular scheme called the Knowledge Triangle resulted, which holds not only the bearers, but also the transmitters of knowledge at the vertices, and their interaction has several aspects to consider.

The present study has as a Case Study the INVENTHEI European project, which builds on existing practices and infrastructures to enhance regional innovation ecosystems and promote innovation-driven research. One of the objectives is to set up HEI-driven European Network of Innovation districts. This work aims to describe and analyze the current tactics and procedures used by Higher Education Institutions for the transmission of innovative knowledge and capacities. This study also intends to understand how to encourage more students to become entrepreneurs and innovators, knowing the challenges of the market and being equipped with all the skills to know and overcome the obstacles that may arise.

For this research multiple actors in the academia were interviewed, from faculties and other academic staff, as well as representatives from industry and research centers. A first round of interviews allowed to understand the vision and the multiple opinions of the situation. After the evaluation and structuration of the information gathered, a second round was made to validate the findings and provide accuracy to the conclusions. As the main achievement we were able to provide an IVAP (Innovation Vision Action Plan) with adequate procedures and examples of activities, that can be applied accordingly to the pillars of the above-mentioned Triangle of Knowledge. This IVAP will constitute a tool to turn the HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) into innovation engines in their local ecosystems and create/follow the path to strengthen the entrepreneur and innovation capacities of the participants. Examples of activities promoted by INVENTHEI framed within the scope of this study are: (i) LGP – Linking Great Partners, a course at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto with a lean start-up approach where companies challenge the students to develop a real project in class, and (ii) School of Start-ups for Researchers, provided by UPTEC, that prepares the ones that wish to evolve its research or business idea and jump to the market.

Keywords:

Education, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Knowledge-based society, Knowledge Triangle.