CODEUNTED - COnnecting & DEvelopment of UNiversity InnovaTion Ecosystems through eDucation

Project period

1.4.2025 - 30.4.2027

Project funding

EIT HEI Initiative

Today, the university innovation ecosystem features many different actors and organizations involved in supporting entrepreneurship across and beyond the campus environment.

However, there is also a lack of clarity and collaboration amongst the different ecosystem players leading to replication, internal competition and struggles, and perhaps more importantly, a disconnect from the student and educational activities on campus.

We see the role of entrepreneurial education, as a crucial enabler in 1) bringing these different ecosystem actors together in a meaningful manner and 2) utilizing and developing new educational offerings across all levels (bachelors, masters, doctoral) to help bridge the gap between students and the university-oriented ecosystems.

The goal is to develop a more holistic, inclusive approach towards entrepreneurship education across partner campuses and universities.

CODEUNITED brings together five universities across four countries and several associated partners in one shared vision: the adoption of an interdisciplinary, ecosystems approach towards entrepreneurship education. In line with the EIT-HEI’s efforts in innovation and entrepreneurship capacity building, CODEUNITED connects the wide range of diverse actors and organizations within the university innovation ecosystem to foster collaboration and improve entrepreneurial outcomes. While many HEIs have programs that support entrepreneurship across and beyond the campus, there is a lack of cohesiveness among the different ecosystem players, leading to replication, internal competition, and struggles, and, more critically, an unnecessary gap between the students and the entrepreneurial and educational activities on campus. We see the role of entrepreneurial education as a crucial enabler in 1) bringing these different ecosystem actors tougher in a meaningful manner and 2) developing new educational offerings across all levels to help bridge the gap between students and the university-oriented ecosystems. The overall goal is to develop a more holistic and inclusive approach toward entrepreneurship education across partner campuses and universities.

This project proposal brings together HEI partners from across Europe (Finland, France, United Kingdom, and Sweden), who together provide a holistic overview of the entrepreneurial landscape and disciplinary backgrounds, along with an ideal balance of new as well as experienced EIT partners. Aalto University, serving as the coordinator, has already previously been involved in two successful EIT-HEI proposals (INCREDIT and C-ACCELERATE), while KTH Royal Institute of Technology is also actively involved in several EIT KICs. Meanwhile, Brunel University, EDHEC Business School, LAB University of Applied Sciences, will all be first-time participants in EIT projects. Furthermore, this consortium of five universities also brings together strong expertise in the Business (EDHEC, Aalto), Design (LAB, Brunel), and technology (KTH, Aalto, Brunel) domains. Together, we feel this consortium represents a right balance of disciplines, expertise, and experience to jointly achieve the larger goal of the EIT-HEI Initiative in “transforming our respective HEIs into innovation and entrepreneurship powerhouses, and strengthening their integration into local, regional and pan-European innovation networks.”
Through this project, we will be training more than 1800 students across various levels (bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral) and disciplines (business, design, technology) in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurially minded courses. On a staff and faculty level, we will be training and mentoring over 200 academic and non-academic staff members, focusing on developing core competences towards supporting and developing entrepreneurial activities well as making clear improvements in the technological transfer processes across the HEIs and as a consortium. The project will also involve and support more than 25 startups, establish more than 20 new relevant partnerships and support structures across all five HEIs with the goal of uniting ecosystem partners and avoiding unnecessary competition and fragmentation across similarly minded organizations while enabling mutually beneficial partnerships and activities.