What are the results of the second European Education and Innovation Summit?

Cooperation between universities, schools and businesses is essential to boost innovation and EU competitiveness

The second European Education and Innovation Summit took place on Tuesday 27 June. The Summit brought together the wider education, research and innovation community. Discussions and workshops focused on fostering collaboration, entrepreneurship and a culture based on innovation at all levels of education. In his opening speech, Vice-President Margaritis Schinas stressed the importance of collaboration between schools, universities and businesses to foster the development of innovation, which is crucial in today's fast-changing world. Innovation is a key element of skills development, especially to achieve digital and green transformation and to address the skills mismatches. Mr Schinas also pointed out that we must not forget an inclusive approach and ensure that all citizens, regardless of age, gender or place of residence, have access to the same opportunities for their personal and professional development.

Close cooperation between education and innovation as a way to develop not only deep-tech skills

During the Summit, three panel discussions were held in which experts from both education and innovation discussed various issues. The first debate (Education and Innovation: drivers for skills development) brought together policy makers, universities and businesses. They discussed developments and innovations since last year's first Summit and the importance of international cooperation in promoting education and innovation collaboration. The discussion also focused on European University Alliances or the European Network of Innovative Universities. Both of these initiatives focus, among other things, on piloting new innovative approaches to teaching and on fostering collaboration with business and the world of innovation. Among others, ASIF Ventures, which is funded by two Amsterdam universities and focuses on supporting student start-ups, was presented as an example of good practice.

The second panel (Higher education and Innovation actors join forces) presented, among other things, existing or newly established initiatives in which higher education institutions and businesses are already cooperating. Panellists also discussed what this cooperation entails and why it is important to support the development of skills for all citizens, especially in the context of transferring theoretical skills into practice. For example, the Coalition of the Willing was discussed. This voluntary consortium was formed in 2022 around the umbrella organisations that participated in the New European Innovation Agenda consultations and is based on the idea that Europe needs a broader collaboration of all innovation and higher education stakeholders to achieve the goals of the Agenda. As one of the results of this collaboration, a Joint roadmap of European Universities Alliances and Innovators was presented. This roadmap is based on mutual voluntary cooperation in 7 hubs, e.g. incubators, sustainability, digitalisation, inclusion and diversity.

The last of the three discussions (Deep Tech skills for Europe) focused on deep-tech skills development and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s (EIT) Deep Tech Talent Initiative. This initiative aims to train at least one million citizens in deep-tech skills by 2025. Currently there are more than 620,000 places available for training committed by the organisations involved until now. During the discussion, as in previous panels, the need to open up academia to society and to connect it with practice was mentioned. The need to attract more people to deep-tech fields was also highlighted, whether they are students or adults in the labour market in need of up- or re-skilling. One way to motivate not only young people to pursue a career in this field is, for example, to show them how these technologies can help solve the real problems we face as a society and to show them that each of us can contribute to this change. The debate also included a reflection on what is meant by “deep-tech” fields or the realisation that not only technical skills are important for these fields, but also soft skills such as creativity, flexibility, empathy or ethics.

What exactly does cooperation with innovation bring?

Apart from the panel discussions, the Summit also included five parallel workshops that focused on specific topics and areas of cooperation between education systems at all levels and the wider research and innovation environment. The "University & Business cooperation" workshop brought a debate on the role of universities and businesses in connection with lower levels of education and the role of regional and national strategies to support this cooperation. In the workshop "Women and girls participation in digital economy", guests discussed the barriers that make it difficult for women and girls to engage in these fields and proposed solutions on how we can support them.

In the context of the green transformation, the workshop "School education for climate" emphasized, among other things, teacher education in this topic, a multidisciplinary approach and community collaboration, i.e. the involvement of not only schools, teachers and students, but also parents and the wider community of municipalities and cities. Innovation and a shift in the quality of education always requires (not only) financial resources, so another workshop focused on mobilizing resources to support innovation and entrepreneurship ("What it takes to develop Innovation and entrepreneurship in HEIs"), with the panellists mentioning opportunities at European level (Erasmus+, EIT initiatives). In addition to financial resources, the need to create the right environment that motivates and supports all actors involved and allows experimentation in innovation was also discussed. The last workshop focused on the topic of researchers' careers for innovation ("Researchers‘ careers: empowering researchers for Innovation"). One of its themes was to promote flexibility and the possibility of career changes between academia and the private sector. The panellists agreed that there is a need to support these transitions and non-traditional careers for researchers to bring theory and practice closer together.

Outlook for the future

The idea of fostering mutual trust and a culture of cooperation between all actors involved, be they schools, local and public authorities, universities, businesses or other organisations, as well as the idea of not being afraid to experiment, try new things and remain open to different possibilities and collaborations within (and outside) the EU, permeated the whole Summit. It showed that Europe is on the right track, but that the cooperation needs to continue. This is the only way to achieve the objectives set out in the strategic documents, to promote Europe's competitiveness at global level and to address current societal challenges.

Recordings of all parts of the Summit are available on the European Education Area portal. The European Commission is also preparing a summary of the main points and outcomes of the Summit to be published in the near future.