Internationalisation can, especially when incorporated into the HEI’s strategy, offer students, staff and the organisation several benefits. It can advance strategic thinking leading to innovation, offer advantages in modernising pedagogy, encourage collaboration between students and staff, stimulate new approaches to learning, and new research collaborations. Entrepreneurial and innovative HEIs that are actively seeking to develop their innovation mission and become universities of the future will have policies in place to learn from their cooperation activities and ultimately enhance their and their ecosystem’s entrepreneurial capabilities.

Linking internationalisation objectives with the entrepreneurial agenda can have a strong impact on the competitiveness of regional and local economies through attracting international research initiatives, developing corporate partnerships and promoting the mobility students and staff. The entrepreneurial agenda of these institutions should actively seek to use networks, grow international relationships, and make use of innovation clusters, in order to deliver increased innovation and impact at local, regional, national and international levels. Partnerships with local employers can also result in internships and career opportunities for international students in local firms during and/or following their studies. Through their internationalisation activities, HEIs can also act as gate keepers and intermediaries for local companies in accessing foreign markets. This should be taken into consideration for knowledge exchange activities (e.g., local internships of international students) and in lifelong learning activities for local entrepreneurs (e.g., advanced training programmes for internationally outward looking traditional firms and start-ups).