Is your Higher Education Institution prepared for future challenges?

HEInnovate is a self-reflection tool for Higher Education Institutions who wish to explore their innovative potential. It guides you through a process of identification, prioritisation and action planning in eight key areas. The self-assessment is available in all EU languages.

HEInnovate is not a benchmarking tool. It diagnoses areas of strength and weaknesss, opens up discussion on the entrepreneurial/innovative nature of your institution and allows you to compare and contrast evolution over time. You can have instant access to your results, learning materials and a pool of experts. HEInnovate can be used by all types of higher education institutions. It is free, confidential and open to anyone to use. Read more.

NEW: To further support Higher Education Institutions in their entrepreneurial development, seven profiles and corresponding sets of recommendations are now available for actions toward more innovative institutions! Read more

HEInnovate is an initiative of the European Commission launched in 2013 in partnership with the OECD. As a concept, it is embedded in numerous EU policy initiatives and funding programmes. Read more.

HEInnovate
in numbers
Total number of:
Self-assessments:34.0K
Higher Education Institutions:2.1K
Registered users:34.7K
Groups on the site:2.9K
Case studies and user stories

You can view and download case studies that showcase different institutional approaches and practices along the eight dimensions of HEInnovate,
and user stories about the experiences of various HEIs undertaking the HEInnovate assessment.

  • Case studies

The European Bioeconomy University (EBU) is an alliance of eight higher education institutions (HEIs) with a dedicated focus on the bioeconomy. The institutions are from different European countries: Austria, France, Germany, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. The bioeconomy is that part of the economy that is concerned with the production and manufacturing of biological resources or with providing related services. In the project Fostering Entrepreneurship for the Bioeconomy (FOEBE) from 2020 to 2023, the EBU trained Master students from bioeconomy study programmes in...

  • Case studies

Business incubators have long been integral to higher education, fostering strong connections between universities and regional business sectors. This comparative case study, part of the HEInnovate initiative, explores the establishment and operation of incubators to support entrepreneurs and innovators in collaboration with higher education institutions (HEIs). The study examines the University College of Borås, TecnoCampus Catalonia/Reimagine Textile, and Foundry Powered by International Fashion Academy (IFA) Paris, utilising public sources and interviews with HEI representatives. The case...

Members of the HEInnovate expert team

The expert group is an important driving force behind taking HEInnovate forward.
In this section you can read the profiles of our experts and contact them.

We are currently selecting the new experts, and they will be announced soon.

News and events

Read the latest HEInnovate news and see our upcoming events.
You can also sign up to our news and newsletter to receive notifications.

  • News

The European Commission is currently conducting an interim evaluation of the progress in putting in place and developing the European Education Area (EEA). The evaluation involves a number of consultations to gather feedback of a variety of stakeholders (including non-EU citizens). This Open Public...

  • News

We are happy to announce that we will hold a two-day long physical training session in May 2024 to provide information and advice on how to make the most of HEInnovate. The training is run in cooperation with the European Commission. The training session is aimed at participants who are interested...

  • News

The European Commission has launched an assessment of the instruments, deliverables, results and impact of its university-business cooperation initiatives. Here you can find an official letter from the European Commission endorsing this study and providing further information about its importance...