Phase 1 of our project has successfully come to an end in December 2022, with much credit going to the hard work and dedication of all project partners. As a result, the IDEATION project has made significant achievements and has secured a strong start for Phase 2.

In the first action, “Digital Access to Infrastructures”, the focus was on kick-starting the process of infrastructure sharing, which led to the creation of new partnerships. The partners registered 101 infrastructures on the Synergy Platform and held 5 presentations on the sharing economy model. Ultimately, 4 infrastructure sharing agreements were established. Action two, “Knowledge Triangle Network”, aimes at establishing new partnerships and foster collaboration through the organization of Open Seminars and the registration of entities on a dedicated platform. A total of 5 events were held, with 130 participants registering and leading to the formation of new, strong partnerships. In Action three, “Crowd Innovation”, students were encouraged to develop innovative solutions to respond to Innovation Challenges. Five challenges were published and 15 solutions were submitted. Action four, “Testing of Crowdfunding Opportunities”, aimed to familiarize participants with the benefits and mechanisms of crowdfunding and crowd-investing as a means of funding innovations. Within this action, 3 crowdfunding trainings were held for 90 participants, and 10 crowdfunding campaigns were developed. The “Pre-Incubation Program” in Action five resulted in 15 workshops for 36 participants. Three startups were supported and scaled up. Finally, Action six, “International Open Innovation Training”, was the most impactful, attracting 381 participants in a program that covered cutting-edge approaches, methods, and case studies in entrepreneurship, with a special emphasis on Open Science and Social Product Development.

The diverse set of activities aimed at promoting innovation and entrepreneurship has had a positive impact on students and academic staff, both in terms of their attitudes and practices. The implementation of various activities (training, pre-incubation programs, simulated games, etc.) has enabled more focused efforts in our HEIs to improve innovation and entrepreneurial skills and knowledge, leading to a change in the attitudes of students towards learning new, innovation-focused soft skills. The opening up of international cooperation has allowed us to create a common set of tools that support the entire IDEATION environment.