MTU wins EU funding for innovation pilot project
It was part of a pilot programme that aims to boost innovation and entrepreneurship at institutional level in higher education institutions across Europe.
In all, 750 partner organisations and associated partners, from academic and non-academic organisations in 26 EU member states and 10 non-EU countries, submitted 64 project applications for the pilot programme, of these a total of 24 projects were approved.
The HEInnovate programme has the main objective of increasing European sustainable growth and creating jobs by reinforcing Europe’s innovation capacity.
MTU is participating in the pilot programme as a partner in the HEADLINES project (Higher Education Accelerated Delivery of Learning, Innovation and Nurturing Entrepreneurship), which is led by the University of Burgos in Spain and comprises a consortium of partner organisations from Poland, Finland, Ireland, Spain and the UK.
It is expected that MTU’s participation in the programme will open up a wealth of connections abroad. MTU will be joining an elite group of 291 higher education institution (HEI) partners taking part in the programme, located across 26 EU member states.
President of MTU, Professor Maggie Cusack complimented the MTU project team saying: “The involvement of MTU in the HeInnovate HEADLINES project directly reflects the new university’s core objective of producing highly educated graduates, who possess a strong ethos of innovation and entrepreneurship, while also supporting enterprise development and job creation across the south west region of Ireland.”
MTU will have a strong input in the food and healthcare areas of the project where the university possesses significant strengths in terms of its course offerings and research activities. MTU will also feature prominently in the project in terms of its wide ranging supports for student and graduate entrepreneurship.
Geographically, with its extensive regional footprint across Cork and Kerry, MTU is ideally placed to create meaningful impact by its participation in the project. Already, MTU facilities such as its Cork and Kerry campus incubators, the Rubicon and Tom Crean Centres, serve as essential avenues to academic expertise in the region and are a key element of national and regional infrastructures to support local innovation, enterprise creation and job creation.
The HEADLINE project which commences in late July will run for two years, by which time the project will have supported 33 start-ups/scale-ups; delivered training to 1,510 students, 143 academic staff and 106 non-academic staff; and provided mentorship for 260 students, 89 academic staff and 45 non-academic staff.
For more, contact Josette O’Mullane, HEADLINES Project Manager at josette.omullane@mtu.ie.