By Lotte Ovaere, Katrien Vandael, and Tine Osaer
UCLL is proud to be one of the nine testing partners in the Accelerate Future HEI project. Our action plan focuses on two overarching goals:
- Contributing to a Sustainable and Just Society by conducting research and delivering services tailored to and in close collaboration with regional SMEs.
- Cultivating an Entrepreneurial Mindset and Skills for both our students and staff.
In this blog post, we’ll zoom in on our efforts to contribute to a more sustainable and just society.
The courses “Catalyse Your Sustainability Transformation” by TUMint and UIIN, as well as “Initiating and Developing a Partnership” by UIIN, have provided us with valuable insights and guidance to incorporate sustainability into UCLL’s Action Plan. Here are our key takeaways:
- A combination of Bottom-Up and Top-Down Approaches works best for implementing sustainable initiatives.
- Close Alignment with External Stakeholders: Engaging with stakeholders outside the higher education institute is crucial to anchor initiatives and capitalise on our societal role.
- Increased Collaboration: Strengthening the ties between research, education, and administration will enhance our impact.
- Explore a monitoring and evaluation process.
To become an innovation hub for sustainable initiatives within our ecosystem, we conducted two strategy workshops with UCLL’s research centre CIMIO, which focuses on impactful and sustainable entrepreneurship. During the first workshop, we defined the strategy of the research centre. In the second workshop, we piloted a tool to map stakeholders and collaboration opportunities, aligning our internal assets with external partners. These workshops, which leveraged tools from the Catalyse Your Sustainability Transformation” and “Initiating and Developing a Partnership” trainings, helped to redefine the strategy of this research centre and to identify which collaborations to start, grow, or stop.
Starting from September 2024, we are excited to welcome Tine Osaer to the Accelerate Project. As an economics lecturer and expert in sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation, Tine brings a broad network and will play a role in enhancing collaboration between research, education, and external partners.
Stay tuned for more updates on our journey towards sustainability and entrepreneurship!
