Five Nordic and Baltic countries start collecting UBC success stories

University of Latvia, Stavanger University, University of Turku, Stockholm University, Vilnius University and SMK University of Applied Social Sciences together with Employers' Confederation of Latvia (LDDK) as a member of BUSINESS NETWORK within the project “University – Business Cooperation driven by Success Stories” will identify the most important prerequisites and criteria that make UBC successful, meaningful and valuable and develop and make public the collection of various UBC case studies across 6 fields of cooperation: research and development, mobility, commercialization of ideas, curriculum development and delivery, lifelong learning and governance. On Thursday (November 28) the first expert roundtable will take place in University of Latvia. Roundtable discussions will be live broadcasted www.lu.lv/tiesraide, from 10:30 to 13:30. Director – General of Employers' Confederation of Latvia (LDDK): “Education system in its all phases should support opportunity for a person to choose educational program and potential profession according to individual abilities and labour market demand. The objective to identify criteria for successful cross sectorial cooperation is reasonable step and should be defined in both academic and entrepreneurial environment.” Prof. Indrikis Muiznieks, pro-rector at the University of Latvia (LU): “This Project is an opportunity for LU to present our UBC initiatives and success stories – for example BIRTI and Connect-Latvia, LU Student Incubator, Green Technology Incubator together with partners in Latvia and Norway as well as research projects together with companies with international coverage -  evaluation of heat insulation for construction materials produced in Latvia, cooperation which has resulted in production of anti-ageing cosmetics, crystal growth and water flood modelling and many more. This Project will allow learning about best cooperation mechanisms in Finland, Sweden and Norway.” Petteri Sinervo, Head of development at the Business and Innovation Development Center of the University of Turku: “The University of Turku is an internationally competitive research university, the operation of which is based on high-quality multidisciplinary research. The impact of the University to the society is produced and increased by the interaction with companies, industry organizations and the so-called third sector of community. Project “University – Business Cooperation driven by Success Stories” is an excellent opportunity for the University of Turku to share its knowledge and experience and thus increase the impact to the society and region, as well as learn more about this subject matter and utilize in future work. The added value created by this project is manifested as new knowledge, new viewpoints and the increase in general impact.” Elisabeth Faret, Manager of UiS EVU at the University of Stavanger: “The western coast of Norway has been the nation’s international trade and business hub for centuries, and after the discoveries in the North Sea in the sixties Stavanger became the oil capital of Norway. For the University of Stavanger, close cooperation with the business sector regionally and internationally has been a given since before the institution’s conception. It is now considered to be more important than ever to succeed in improving UBC relations, and the University of Stavanger especially focuses on relations giving direct benefits to all participants (triple helix operations). The Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning unit of the University of Stavanger succeeds well in developing and delivering educational offerings well suited to business needs, and the University´s Technology Transfer Office succeeds well in commercialization of university research and development. With limited internal resources and government funding, interaction with the regional private companies is crucial for the university’s ability to provide relevant and leading education and research in key areas. At an institutional level, success in the area of UBC has been a central driver for the institution’s strategic focus on innovation, and last year the university became a member of the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU).” The Project will last one year and incorporate three integral phases – (1) setting success criteria for case studies already this year, (2) first round on identification of the case studies for international Assembly next spring and (3) broader call for case studies after the Assembly to develop a collection of success stories. Analytical report and case studies will be publicly available to ensure knowledge transfer. The Project is funded by The Nordplus Horizontal Programme: a cross-sectoral programme which supports innovative projects spanning from traditional categories and sectors to new, different, broader or more complex issues and challenges.