We are excited to announce that Phase 1 of the HEI2MARKET project has been successfully completed, and we are officially entering Phase 2! Our work in Phase 1 was built on three key pillars:
• Entrepreneurial curricula development – strengthening skills and fostering innovation
• Startup support and mentoring – expert guidance for young entrepreneurs
• Institutional capacity building – empowering higher education institutions to sustainably support innovation
Phase 1 Highlights
- 102 academic and 99 non-academic staff successfully completed the pilot online Innovative Entrepreneurship Curriculum, testing and refining new training approaches for HEIs.
- 862 students successfully completed the pilot online innovative entrepreneurship curriculum programme, contributing to the validation and improvement of the curriculum across partner HEIs.
- The Mentoring Programme was designed and piloted with 97 students, 41 academic and 34 non-academic staff.
- Support was launched for 5 start-up/scale-up teams.
- 6 new structures were established to support innovation.
- 10 new strategic partnerships were formed
In the Phase 2 which officially started in January 2026. and will last until the end of the project, April 2027. will scale up these results. The goal is to train a total of 2,400 students, mentor more than 245 participants, and support additional startups in reaching market readiness. By introducing new support structures and reinforcing strategic alignment, the project will ensure a lasting and transformative impact on the innovation capacity of all partner HEIs, positioning them as regional innovation hubs.
