On March 24, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) launched the HEI Initiative: “Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education” – a new initiative to promote innovation and entrepreneurship at the institutional level in higher education institutions.

Part of the initiative is a Call for Proposals. The Pilot Call for Proposals invites European higher education institutions to design institution-wide action plans that will improve their entrepreneurial and innovation capacity across all institutional levels.

The call will fund 23 pilot projects to be implemented in 2021−2023. The total maximum budget per project is €1.2 million, broken down as follows: €400,000 for Phase 1 (July−December 2021) and €800,000 for Phase 2 (January 2022−July 2023).

Activities can focus on several themes, including:

• Fostering institutional engagement and change
• Strengthening partnerships between higher education, business and research organisations
• Developing innovation and business support services
• Enhancing the quality of entrepreneurial education
• Creating and disseminating knowledge

The deadline for submitting proposals is 25 May 2021, and the selected pilot projects will be announced in June 2021. 

On April 14 and 15 two info sessions will be hold online to present the HEI Initiative and the Pilot Call for Proposals in more detail. To learn more about the info sessions, the initiative and how to apply, visit eit-hei.eu or have a look at the factsheet.