SMILE’s contextual focus is smart manufacturing − the hallmark of the next industrial revolution, representing a cornerstone for economic competitiveness and growth in order to create jobs and improve the quality of life of citizens. SMILE’s overall objective is to accelerate institutional change and increase higher education institutions’ innovation and entrepreneurship capacities as well as their integration into regional innovation ecosystems.

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Built on existing strong minerals exploration MSc programmes, the project provides a joint education with add-on entrepreneurship skills. Based on a gap analysis, mineral resources exploration, focusing on field activities and sustainability performance does not exist in the portfolio of EIT-Labelled master programmes. The consortium led by and having RIS-universities will involve non-academic partners in program development and implementation.

UMANE (Universities for huMAN-centered Entrepreneurship) project is aimed at fostering institutional change and developing innovative services and methodology to support human-centered innovation and entrepreneurship within the universities of the consortium. UMANE will allow HEIs to undertake the necessary institutional change adopting a methodology that mimics the two-stage process of human-centered innovation: exploration and prototyping.

Exploration refers to the first phase of the project, the exposure to the human-centered approach that will help HEIs to adopt a new approach and reframe existing activities. Prototyping refers to the second phase of the project, the re-design phase that will allow HEIs to enhance the entrepreneurial mindset, programs and activities, organizational mechanisms, and structures.

More specifically, the consortium’s main objectives are to:

- develop and share a human-centered methodology to innovation and entrepreneurship within the consortium;

- re-design and implement innovation and entrepreneurial educational programs based on human-centered methodology;

- develop support tools, mechanisms, and services in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship within each HEI that can lead to a mindset change;

- develop a set of KPIs able to measure those competencies generated and the new mindset activated by the initiative, both at personal and organizational level;

- develop impact-driven international partnerships between HEIs, triangle partners, and business;

- strengthen collaborations with local nodes of EIT KICs, such as Raw Material, Manufacturing, and develop new linkages with other EIT KICs, such as Digital, Climate, and InnoEnergy KICs.

Project aims to increase students’ entrepreneurship/business skills, broaden University-Business Cooperation in RIS region, support EIT-labelled MSc-s and boost employment of the RM graduates leveraging regional brain-drain. 21 matchmaking events will be organized, 367 students will conduct internship in 300 hosting-organizations, 640 individuals will complete an online training and 25-40 interns will be employed at the hosting-organizations.

The IMAGINE-III project is the extension of the successful legacy KAVA IMAGINE-I and IMAGINE-II projects. A consortium of five top universities and 1 industry partner, established 8 double master degree tracks that deliver the EIT-Labelled Sustainable Materials (SUMA) Master Programme. IMAGINE-III will expand the consortium to RIS countries, add digitalization into curricula and strengthen the SUMA innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives.

The BOOSTalent project brings together an eight-partner consortium comprised of five higher education institutions and three business partners to enhance institutional innovation and entrepreneurship practices. With a vision for 2030, the consortium aims to foster innovation in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) across higher education institutions, students, and businesses, particularly in the fields of aerospace, electronics, advanced materials, sustainability, and biodiversity. The consortium seeks to establish a long-term partnership between industry, academia, and government to develop cutting-edge education programs and address the climate crisis and wider sustainability issues. The project aligns with the goals of the Deep Tech Talent Initiative, Climate-KIC, EIT Digital, and EIT Raw Materials and supports their strategic aims.