Partner Introduction Partner Introduction – UIIN

Advancing the future of university-industry engagement

UIIN is an international leader on university-industry engagement, entrepreneurial & engaged universities and knowledge transfer. We are dedicated to advancing the future of higher education institutions and supporting our global community of university-industry professionals. We conduct research, organise events and provide training and consultancy services to our community of 80+ organisational and 500+ individual members.

Founded in 2012, UIIN responded to a developing need within university-industry interaction moving away from the linear process of technology transfer and a shift towards a more holistic and strategic approach by all stakeholders involved. Our mission is to enable and enhance university and industry engagement across education and research, through providing insights from research and practice, upskilling and supporting individuals and institutions, and creating a global community for sharing best-practice.

With our consulting offerings, professional training and events, we actively convert research into practice and support universities, business and government in developing stronger and more strategic relationships, more future-oriented institutions and ultimately building a knowledge society for a better tomorrow. We have a proven experience of successfully leading international events, undertaking the implementation of European research projects and developing strategic partnerships with relevant stakeholders. We have a track record in leading and participating in research-heavy international projects, focussing on university-business collaboration (see Spanning Boundaries and The State of UBC in Europe).

We are delighted to be leading the Engagement Readiness Monitor project. We aim to scale the work of this project onto a European level and allow for dissemination and exploitation of the project outputs across universities in Europe and beyond. We will lead the development and delivery of IO2 Engagement Readiness Self-Assessment Framework, and will be highly engaged in the delivery of the other two intellectual outputs. We are an experienced partner in developing assessment and we will use our expertise to develop scales and a framework to measure the engagement readiness of higher education institutions (HEIs). Furthermore, we will support the development of the Engagement Readiness Self-Assessment Framework that will ultimately allow HEIs to fulfil their potential, and make more meaningful contributions to their cities, regions and nations by becoming ‘engaged’ universities.

The Engagement Readiness Monitor project will contribute to our further strategic initiatives to drive university-business collaboration. As we are working on this project, we are also kicking off our three new pilot programs for cohorts of universities in the first half of 2021. These pilot programs will support the participating universities in accelerating their partnerships, entrepreneurship and impact, with an ultimate aim to help them become engaged and entrepreneurial institutions.

Header image created by UIIN, background photo by @jmelpri on Unsplash, logo by UIIN

Blog editors: Alexandra Zinovyeva (UIIN) and Fleur Schellekens (UIIN)