On Tuesday 19 May 2020 all InnoHEIs partners discussed online the first steps of their analysis of the innovation infrastructure in their regions. 27 participants joined the meeting. Special guests during this virtual partner meeting was the winning student team of a challenging pitch contest of the Mid Sweden University.  

Students of the Mid Sweden University participate in a real life task that challenges students to create a sustainable and innovative future called Skarp Uppdrag, which can be translated as ‘sharp mission’. This time, it was digital and implemented with an European perspective together with the InnoHEIs project. The challenge they were given was in the context of this time of global crisis, the corona pandemic and the climate changes. They had to come up with an answer to the following question in just one day. How would you design the future for North Middle Sweden, 2030? They had to fulfil one of the united nations 17 sustainable goals and include cooperation with two of the other European partners in the InnoHEIs project.

The winning team exists of five students with different study programs, from eco entrepreneur for sustainable development to computer science and from public health to industrial design engineering and communications and public relations. Their 3 minute pitch about interconnectivity inspired InnoHEIs partners, especially the partners from higher education institutions, to join forces with Mid Sweden University and make use of collaboration of interdisciplinary student teams from different regions. Also the students received useful feedback from the research and innovation experts of the InnoHEIs project.

Regional analisys of research and innovation infrastructures
Furthermore the regional analysis of all the partners are in progress and first results were already shared or are expected soon. Several InnoHEIs partners started interviewing key players in their regional research and innovation infrastructure. For example InnoHEIs partner MIUN interviewed the Risk & Crisis Research Centre in North Middle Sweden. In the next partner meeting, which will hopefully take place in October in France, more results will be shared with a focus on the research and innovation infrastructure in the region of Centre Val the Loire by InnoHEIs partner Dev’up.


The winning students pitching online to receive feedback from InnoHEIs innovation experts.