Open educational resources, open science and open data practices have the ability to improve the effectiveness, quality and productivity of entrepreneurial and innovative education and research systems. Through open educational resources, students can access content anytime, anywhere and engage with enhanced and relevant material to support their studies, entrepreneurial intentions and their future careers. Educators and students can capitalise on the open approach to create bespoke education programmes, benefitting from the latest relevant information, making quality education more accessible and equitable, as well as affordable.

Through open science, the HEI can promote collaborative efforts, faster knowledge exchange, and new ways of sharing results (including publications, research data and methodologies) among students, staff and the society at large. Researchers can share the results, have access to the latest findings and data and can reuse and reproduce content, accelerating their own research agendas. A key incentive for embedding open education, open science and open data in an HEI is the development of a reward system and associated benefits. This may include rewards through the recognition of roles and responsibilities, financial incentives, awards and competitions.

An HEI that embraces open education, open science and open data commits to open outputs, open infrastructure and culture change. Open data provides an important cost-effective resource which is accessible, increases community engagement and participation, and encourages innovation and impact on the HEI’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.