Please engage in the discussion regarding potential issues or needs related to EIT Urban Mobility RIS Education. The aim is to identify potential areas for the call to focus on. Please discuss addressable issues and needs you see and what you think are causing these. Potential solutions will be discussed later. In essence the question is: What areas should we focus our budget on to maximize the impact of EIT Urban Mobility RIS Education activities?
EIT Urban Mobility RIS is designed as a two-way interaction scheme with the purpose to advance the innovation and entrepreneurship performance across Europe, especially in countries with moderate or modest innovation scores as defined by the European Innovation Scoreboard. By sharing good practices of Knowledge Triangle Integration (KTI) and increasing activities in eligible countries, EIT Urban Mobility will gain access to productive inputs, business skills, talent, cooperation opportunities in education, market and business, currently untapped entrepreneurial potential, customers for innovative ventures, innovation, knowledge, knowhow and technology transfer possibilities, additional testbeds for applications of innovative solutions as well as access to co-funding options provided by EU, Regional and National Support Schemes. In the mid-term perspective, EIT Urban Mobility RIS is expected to facilitate the incorporation of relevant players of the local innovation ecosystems in the EIT Urban Mobility ecosystems and foster the Knowledge Triangle Integration approach as a framework for the enhancement of innovation capacity.
The main purpose of the RIS Education activities is to support innovation and entrepreneurship capacity building in RIS countries through education and training activities. Activities should primarily target RIS region impact and target groups but may be based on non-RIS concepts and activity partners. The activities should target university level education and/or professional education and training. For more information regarding RIS please click here.
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From experience of previous calls and the present status and development we are here suggesting a number of potential areas. Please suggest additional issues and needs to address if you find something missing. Focus on the problem and need, not pushing solutions. In general we look for activities and initiatives that can support the overall RIS strategy and aim, offers high quality education, reach a large audience and market, and gain recognition efficiently with a lasting effect. New activities can be regarded as pilots for further future expansion increasing geographical coverage and volume, that may also be possible repeat and scale the coming years.
- Raising awareness
- We see significant potential and need to raise the awareness of existing EIT Urban Mobility education activities and services to relevant target groups in RIS countries. We need to make sure existing activities are benefitting RIS.
- Capacity building
- On top of utilizing existing education initiatives, such as existing courses, we also need to build the local capacity to achieve lasting effects. This may include supporting local eco-systems.
- Education and training
- We see a strong need for education and training activities with a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship potentially also including urban mobility, such as face to face or online courses.
- Startup student activities
- Somewhat overlapping with the above, but important to highlight, there is a significant need to further support student startup activities and training with the purpose to generate new ventures.
- Suggest an issue or need to discuss
- Please suggest other relevant issues and needs to address and discuss and in line with what is stated above. What you think are issues and needs to focus on on to maximize the impact of the EIT Urban Mobility Academy activities.
EIT Urban Mobility Academy Calls 
Just for clarification. Issues and needs regarding the three areas; the Master School, the Doctoral Training Network, and the Competence Hub may still have a focus on RIS countries, even is not by the end resulting in a proposal for the RIS Education call. Strong RIS integration and involvement is most welcome in any Academy proposal, irrespectively of area.
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What are the key factors that need to be taken into account when “adapting” a course to a RIS country (language, culture, etc.)? How should the differences between RIS countries/regions be taken into account? Should RIS courses be designed for specific countries only or does it make sense to design a course for a group of countries (Baltic states, Mediterranean countries, CEE, etc.)?
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In terms of training, younger professionals in East European countries have a very good level of english compared to southern Europe. So maybe this can be considered when desgning the courses. Furthermore the challenges in terms of urban mobility show differences but also similarities: very good public transport networks (and modals shares) in Eastern Europe and Spain, much lower in Italy or South Eastern Europe which are more oriented towards individual motorised transport. Overall active mobility, digitalisation and electrification are major challenges (similar to all countries). Sustainable financing is another issue, which is more complicated than in North/west Europe.
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And linked to this – maybe in some cases identifying good practice elsewhere, and then exploring market needs in specific local contexts, could/should lead to translation of high-impact learning material to local languages which might offer higher value for money than (a) just offering content in English, (b) creating a new product from scratch.
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It would be great to not fall into a colonial thinking trap here. Many of the universities in those countries have a lot of knowledge and potential, but they are struggling for resources and basic facilities. So, before intervening, it would be great to start with assessing what is being thought in those universities already, and narrowing down the intervention from there. Then, the problems are also not just about what is being thought, but what kind of professional networks are supported or not, which ends up affecting implementation of what is being thought at universities, and what are the remaining knowledge gaps in practice.
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Agreed, maybe it’s not the knowledge itself, but instead, how urban mobility professionals can navigate a context where, as you said, they struggle with resources and basic facilities and where specific strategic skills are needed to implement projects or initiatives.
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Agreed, also beyond the teaching. Assessing if and how universities in RIS countries are linked to regional or international innovation networks and how can they leverage on the opportunities these create then connecting them with the right players.
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Understand what’s already in place, identify succesful practice that can be shared and scaled up, to increase not just impact but economies of scale, to produce higher outputs per euro spent. Incentivise sharing of good practice in the countries under the RIS label to produce positive outcomes at a lower cost.
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Improve understanding of the skills and knowledge gaps in the industry in the area of urban mobility, and how current EIT UM offer can help address these gaps and where EIT UM can help with RIS countries’ organisations to fund or co-produce solutions with a strong local flavour.
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Share and study best practices from other RIS countries or even from most innovative countries in the scope of urban mobility. Create matching opportunities for students, startups and other stakeholders from different countries to foster the innovative and creative thinking.
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Good point. One thought here: are matching opportunities for students or possibilities to join international entrepreneurship training programs missing in RIS countries, or is it rather than the opportunities exist and they are not disseminated/advertized well enough in these countries? Or a bit of both?
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I believe that a true collaboration between the different countries requires more than “capacity building” in a top-down manner (or west-east manner). How can we create a culture where all actors feel empowered by learning new skills but also by sharing their best practices?
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I believe that a true collaboration between the different countries requires more than “capacity building” in a top-down manner (or west-east manner). How can we create a culture where all actors feel empowered by learning new skills but also by sharing their best practices?
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Very good comment – sharing best practice and “what works”, and then understanding how this can be translated into different/specific local contexts, might offer better value for money than starting a design/production process from scratch. Maybe this is something that the call should explore too,
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it is not because a country is ‘less rich’ that it cannot generate revenue. So even if more funding is available for RIS countries, it is worth looking into a good business models which will generate a certain level of financial return, since this can be seen as a (or one of the) major way to measure impact.
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Thank you everyone who provided their views through this consultation on the issues that the next RIS Education Call 2023-2025 should include. This is a summary of the ideas shared:
1-Support further integration of the Knowledge Triangle in RIS countries, so that durable, evidence-based solutions can be implemented in a financially sustainable way. KTI can be either local, national, regional, or international. This should (a) support the knowledge transfer from universities to industry and beyond, and (b) help universities leverage relationships to improve knowledge generation, upskilling and financial sustainability goals.
2-Do not fund generic projects addressing broad topics but very much linked to the specific needs of RIS countries, which may include: active mobility, digitalization, electrification. Specific over general: fund small-remit projects with clear impact that then can be replicated elsewhere.
3-Identify good practice in terms of what’s already happening in RIS countries, and promote sharing of said good practice or scale up – whether this is education products, or occasions when education can play a part in supporting people obtain the skills/knowledge that have proved helpful otherwise.
4-Invest in skills that will support sustainability of interventions including innovation & entrepreneurial skills, and how to navigate a very complex system (funding-wise, etc). This concerns both professionals, academics and civil servants – innovation skills and awareness may be missing in many places among civil servants, which jeopardises the generation of viable start-ups, ideas, etc. This needs to be specific to the characteristics and landscape of RIS countries.
5-Clearly identify the local/national/regional knowledge and skills gaps, and invest in narrowing them, both in the area of urban mobility but also in innovation and entrepreneurship and other relevant areas.
6-Bring stakeholders from RIS Hub countries together so that they can exchange what works in their jurisdictions, and to create matching opportunities for students, startups and stakeholders to foster innovation and creative thinking. Also encourage projects where RIS and non-RIS countries come together.
7-Focus interventions on financial sustainability, so investment is not just a one-off but can be sustained over time and build economies of scale.
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