Your Questions, Our Expert: Join the HEInnovate Standing Session

📅 15 April 2026 | 🕒 15:00 - 16:00 CET |💻 Online

Already using HEInnovate and want to go deeper? This informal, user-driven session is your chance to get direct answers to your questions live from an expert!

Joining us is María José Herrero Villa, Head of the Innovation Ecosystem Development Unit at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, with over two decades of experience building university innovation ecosystems with industry, business, and regional partners.

Come with a question, a challenge, or a case you'd like to explore: the conversation is yours to shape.

Lead the Green and Digital Transitions: Apply now to the CEI Study Visit to Bulgaria

📅 6-7 July 2026 | 📍 New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria

How is your institution navigating the green and digital transitions? Join the CEI Study Visit 2026 at New Bulgarian University for 1.5 days of peer learning, collaborative workshops, and first-hand insight into building sustainability and digital innovation ecosystems.

💶Fully funded* for 15 selected participants (*travel + accommodation). 

✔ Explore frameworks for embedding green and digital innovation in curricula and strategy

✔ Connect with peers and practitioners driving change across Europe

✔ Apply insights directly to your own institutional context

👥 Apply by 20 April 2026: places are limited.

📘 New Report from CEI: Closing the Gap Between Research and Real-World Impact

How can universities turn research into real-world change? The new Community for Educational Innovation report tackles one of higher education's most pressing challenges: translating knowledge into meaningful impact for society.

The message is clear — impact does not happen by chance. It takes strong researcher support, genuine partnerships beyond academia, and the right skills, mindsets, and incentives embedded across the institution.

📚 User Story: Strengthening Innovation in Challenging Times — HEInnovate at Odessa National Economic University

Natalia Nianchuk, U!Innovate project manager at Odessa National Economic University in Ukraine, shares how HEInnovate sparked institution-wide change — from translating the self-assessment into Ukrainian and opening up dialogue, to launching a student business incubator and expanding European partnerships.

Operating under extraordinary pressures, Odessa shows that even in the most challenging circumstances, reflection can unlock real and lasting change.

Strengthening Impact: A New Era for HEInnovate Train the Trainers

On 11-12 March 2026, HEInnovate welcomed higher education professionals to ISEC Lisboa for the first onsite workshop of its renewed Train the Trainers programme. The session combined hands-on learning, peer exchange, and practical project development, with expert contributions from Tania Carraquico (President, ISEC Lisboa) and Vilma Purienė (Head of Knowledge and Technology Transfer, VILNIUS TECH).

Part of a new three-phase format, the Lisbon workshop built on an online introduction in February and sets participants up to design concrete actions at their institutions ahead of a follow-up session in July.

👉 Read the full story and explore how the renewed programme is supporting innovation across institutions.

From Lisbon, With Insight: HEInnovate as a Companion for Change

Following the Train-the-Trainer Workshop in Lisbon, Frank Ziegele, Executive Director at CHE – Higher Education Management and Policy, reflected on what makes HEInnovate genuinely useful for institutions navigating change.

For Frank, the tool's real power lies in how it grows with an institution — from sparking internal dialogue and surfacing fresh perspectives, to embedding into strategy and stakeholder engagement, to identifying priorities and tracking progress over time. More than an assessment tool: a companion for change.

🔗 Read Frank's reflection on the change process

New Toolkit: Engage Stakeholders to Drive Institutional Change

Innovation does not happen alone. The HEInnovate Stakeholder Engagement Toolkit helps institutions identify and involve the right stakeholders at the right time across the HEInnovate journey.

Featuring practical tools such as the Stakeholder Engagement Matrix and Stakeholder Mapping Action Sheet, it supports focused dialogue and coordinated, sustainable action.