by Marisol Rico-Cortez

Abstract: Professor Marisol Rico-Cortez at Jönköping University in Sweden is using her experience at HEInnovate workshops to co-create an international network of stakeholders using HEInnovate and encourage management at her institution to interact with the self-assessment tool.

Could you share more about your background and responsibilities?

I, Marisol Rico-Cortez, am an Assistant Professor in the Product Development, Production, and Design Department in the School of Engineering at Jönköping University.

What kind of HEInnovate activity did you take part in, and who participated in the activity at your institution?

I attended a short HEInnovate workshop in November of 2023. The workshop covered the available tools to use on the HEInnovate website and offered participants guidance on how to use the action cards for action planning. Participants were then separated into groups and given the opportunity to discuss how their HEIs could become more innovative and entrepreneurial, based on their particular dimensions of interest.

What were the most useful or beneficial aspects of taking part in the HEInnovate workshop?

I found this workshop to be interesting and was impressed with how the self-assessment was structured to measure innovation. I felt that measuring innovative and entrepreneurial capabilities should be important not only in business departments, but also in engineering departments such as mine.

Did HEInnovate help identify any challenges/gaps, or areas for growth? Were there any surprising insights or discoveries?

I had previously carried out a study to explore how students can be more entrepreneurial, surveying both teaching staff to ask their opinions on it. I found that teaching staff outside of the fields of economics and business did not value improving students’ entrepreneurial skills, viewing these skills as “soft skills” in contrast to the “hard skills” they cultivate in the engineering department. I began exploring how that mindset could be changed.

Did you implement any changes after attending the workshop?

After attending this HEInnovate workshop, I then applied to attend the Train the Trainers workshop in Brussels in May of 2024. I enjoyed the experience of working in groups in person, meeting people from different countries and backgrounds. I also appreciated the structure of the workshop: learning about the rationale behind the creation of HEInnovate and being given the opportunity to connect with other people there and find motivation from each other. I formed a teaching and learning group of nine people in collaboration with other participants at Train the Trainers from other HEIs across Europe.

Are there any plans to continue or expand your work with the teaching and learning group?

The group has met online since Train the Trainers, and we are planning to share coursework ideas with each other, perhaps even connecting their courses together and synchronising them online. The goal is to support each other and fellow teachers in bolstering their students to begin their careers in ever-modernising, changing career spaces.

How do you plan to further implement the experience and knowledge of the HEInnovate tool?

I am in the process of sharing the HEInnovate tool with the management team at Jönköping University, presenting a report of how the university has engaged with HEInnovate so far (including their self-assessment results from the school of business) and my experience at Train the Trainers. I have created a self-assessment group and now plan to invite the management team of about five people to complete the self-assessment and determine whether the university is as innovative as it claims to be. I hope this will raise awareness within the teaching staff at Jönköping University about the importance of using HEInnovate and encourage senior management to take action and plan for the years to come, including finding opportunities for growth and increasing European and international collaboration.

What have you observed about how HEInnovate is used in your country, and what would you like to see happen next?

I have looked at the data available in the resources I was provided with as part of my work for the EIT HEI Initiative, and I can see that 11 universities in Sweden have taken part in the self-assessment. However, I noted that the results are largely from schools of business, not schools of engineering. Furthermore, these universities haven’t necessarily accessed all the other resources that HEInnovate has to offer. I think there’s more to be done on the national level and hope that other faculties and departments outside of business and economics in Sweden will engage with HEInnovate.