June 2024 – CATALISI

CATALISI Deliverable 2.1 Knowledge sharing and Mutual Learning Plan

Institutional transformation within Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is vital to address the current challenges and align with societal values and needs. CATALISI employs seven innovative acceleration services to drive this transformation, including Living Labs, Design Lab, Counseling, Human Capital Reinforcement, Predictive Skills Studies, Marketplace, and Community of Practice (CoP).

The CATALISI project enables Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to pursue institutional transformation, conceiving mutual learning as an “acceleration service” for strengthening human capital, capacity building and outreach.

The relevance of mutual learning and knowledge sharing as a methodology to strengthen the capacity of HEIs to advance towards the European Research Area (ERA) Policy Agenda for 2022-2024 is proven and required to define a detailed Knowledge Sharing and Mutual Learning Plan, led by APRE, to support this process.

The CATALISI D.2.1 deliverable provides guidelines for the set-up and organization of Mobilization and Mutual Learning (MML) workshops and Twinning schemes to assist HEIs in acquiring knowledge of workable solutions that can be implemented in their context at institutional level.

Knowledge Sharing and Mutual Learning Approach and activities in CATALISI

MML actions address R&I challenges by creating diverse partnerships and ensuring R&I relevance and responsiveness, highlighting a need for targeted knowledge sharing and peer to peer learning to achieve institutional transformation.

Knowledge sharing and mutual learning in CATALISI aim to support HEIs in their institutional transformations by providing practical knowledge, best practices, and examples benefitting from the exchange with other HEIs peers, experts and societal actors. This approach facilitates broad networking, co-creation, capacity-building, idea generation, and stakeholder engagement to manage and sustain R&I over time.

Knowledge sharing and mutual learning in CATALISI includes three educational and learning activities, namely onsite workshops, online events, and twinning schemes:

MML onsite workshops: These events facilitate experience and knowledge exchange among HEIs. Seven workshops, one in each implementer location, involve discussions on institutional transformation roadmaps and co-creation of new solutions and pathways.

Mutual learning online events organized by APRE: these events feature Community of Practice (CoP) members sharing best practices and advising on institutional changes.

Twinning schemes: Twinning mechanisms facilitate peer-to-peer knowledge transfer and best practice implementation among HEIs. Each HEI visits threeothers, focusing on specific intervention areas like Human Capital, Research Modus Operandi, and Finance.

Conclusion

In CATALISI, APRE facilitates the creation of a knowledge-sharing and mutual learning environment for exchanging ideas and sharing knowledge among participants. MML onsite workshops and Twinnig are being implemented aiming:

To be informative and inspiring, motivating participants for further stimulating a positive research culture within institutions.
To promote interactions with experts providing valuable insights on good practices and actionable knowledge on potential solutions.

To transfer knowledge from different disciplines and from different countries.

The value of knowledge-sharing and mutual learning thus extends beyond immediate applications in the context of specific CATALISI initiatives.

You can download the full deliverable at this link

CATALISI Deliverable 1.1 Acting Living Labs needs assessment and 4-Helix Ecosystem

In the European Union (EU), Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have long been recognized for their global leadership in research and innovation. To maintain and enhance this leadership, it is crucial for these institutions to address the challenges of Research and Innovation (R&I) and to manage and drive the transformations affecting science and innovation by strengthening their collaborations with European universities, citizens, and society. This cooperation maximizes the value of research and its impact on the region and local communities. Bridging the gap in research and innovation (R&I) performance among HEIs, to better navigate and cooperate in the production and dissemination of high-quality knowledge.

The CATALISI project

The CATALISI Horizon Europe project is dedicated to supporting HEIs in successfully implementing strategies and individualized pathways for institutional transformation through the adoption of innovative acceleration services. The CATALISI model focuses on three main domains for institutional transformation:

Research Careers and Talent Support
Open Science and Public Engagement
Sustainable Research and Education

These domains encompass various intervention areas and are integrated with seven targeted and innovative acceleration services designed to facilitate and catalyze institutional transformations in R&I. These services include:

Living Labs
Design Lab for Transformational Pathways: strategy and agenda setting
Counselling
Reinforcement of Human Capital: capacity building & outreach
Predictive Study on Skills Anticipation
Marketplace
Community of Practice (CoP)

By addressing these domains and leveraging these services, CATALISI aims to strengthen European University collaborations and alliances, positioning them as lighthouses of European values.

Methodology

The Living Lab Service: leveraging a co-creation methodology for university innovation development

The methodological approach of the CATALISI project focuses on a participatory and collaborative framework to plan and develop stakeholder workshops. This approach is rooted co-creation, stakeholder involvement, and real-world settings to foster institutional transformation. Living Labs are guided by the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL).

Stakeholder Workshops for heterogenous collaboration among actors in HEIs

The CATALISI project emphasizes the importance of collaboration, cultural change, and responsive communication to achieve shared objectives. By leveraging the diverse perspectives and expertise of stakeholders across the quadruple helix—academia, business, public administration, and civil society—the project aims to create a holistic and impactful approach to institutional transformation in higher education.

Between June and August 2023, seven workshops were organized by each Implementers, involving 153 key stakeholders from universities and their local ecosystems. These workshops provided a platform for meaningful exchanges, focusing on specific interventions driving institutional transformation. The workshops facilitated the re-evaluation and fine-tuning of initially outlined intervention areas, ensuring they are tailored to each institution’s unique needs and context.

The quadruple helix model ensures that a diverse range of stakeholders from academia, business, public administration, and civil society are involved in the workshops. This diversity is crucial for capturing a wide array of perspectives and needs.

Conclusion and Future Steps

The launch of CATALISI’s first acceleration service in the Acting Living Labs marked the beginning of a transformative journey for HEIs across Europe. The insights gathered from the stakeholder workshops formed the basis for the next steps, including the development of concrete action plans aimed at designing and implementing institutional transformations.

After the exploration phase that highlighted the diverse target intervention areas of CATALISI Implementers during the first year of the project, a comprehensive needs assessment involving Implementers and relevant stakeholders was conducted. This laid the groundwork for the subsequent collaborative design of Action Plans for Institutional Transformation.

The methodological approach of this phase closely mirrors the Living Lab Methodology, ensuring that the solutions formulated—especially the Action Plans—are deeply rooted in the real-world challenges identified. This guarantees their relevance and alignment with the current needs of CATALISI HEIs.

Following the co-design of Action Plans, Implementers are proceeding to the implementation phase. As the next step, the Action Plans will undergo evaluation to refine them. This iterative process facilitates continuous improvement and adaptation, ensuring the effective implementation of Action Plans throughout the project’s duration. The CATALISI project serves as a beacon of innovation and collaboration, guiding HEIs to elevate their research excellence and societal impact, and move towards the universities of the future. As a vital acceleration service within the CATALISI project, Living Labs have proven highly effective in co-creating change across various intervention areas of ERA policy and R&I throughout Europe. This success underscores their potential for adoption and adaptation in diverse future applications.

You can download the full deliverable at this link