The “Research & Innovation For Cities & Citizens – RI4C2” project, submitted by the EC2U Alliance, has been awarded 2 million euro funding in the Horizon 2020 "Science with & for Society" SwafS call for European Universities. This grant will boost the Alliance's actions in Research and Innovation fields.
The seven universities composing the European Universities Alliance “EC2U”, rooted in the dialogue between universities and cities, are again joining forces to extend the activities of the EC2U Alliance to the Research and Innovation fields.
The RI4C2 project is based on several important recent initiatives supported or developed by the European Commission in the fields of the Knowledge square, composed of Education, Research, Innovation and Service to society: these components are also the core missions of the universities participating to this project.
The RI4C2 project will be achieved by taking stock of the structures created under the EC2U Erasmus+ project and by complementing them with results and outputs from eight Work Packages (WP) that will act as “mini-engines” aiming at making the associated transformation a reality:
- WP1 “Transformation management”, led by University of Poitiers
- WP2 “EC2U R&I agenda”, led by University of Salamanca
- WP3 “EC2U People empowerment”, led by University of Coimbra
- WP4 “EC2U R&I platforms”, led by University of Pavia
- WP5 “EC2U innovation sphere”, led by University of Jena
- WP6 “EC2U Knowledge ecosystems”, led by University of Iasi
- WP7 “Open EC2U”, led by University of Turku
- WP8 “Transformation dissemination”, led by University of Poitiers
The people in charge of the University of Turku in the project are are Vice Rector Kalle-Antti Suominen, Head of Research Development Mari Riipinen and Development Specialist Laura Niemi. The University of Turku's share of the support is almost 265,000 euros.
The dissemination of RI4C2 outputs will be performed in direct interaction with the EC2U Alliance, via multiplier events, tools for the diverse communities and global policy guidelines to local, national and European policymakers and stakeholders.
The members of the EC2U Alliance are also members of the Coimbra Group of European universities. Founded in 1985, the Coimbra Group is an association of long-established European multidisciplinary universities of high international standard. The Coimbra Group is committed to creating special academic and cultural ties in order to promote internationalisation, academic collaboration, excellence in learning and research, and service to society. It is also the purpose of the Group to influence European educational policy and to develop best practice through mutual exchange of experience. The Group consists of 41 universities, with the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University from Finland.
