EIT selects 35 projects of consortia of higher education institutions to boost their innovation skills
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT
European Institute of Innovation and Technology
) has selected 35 projects to receive funding aimed at helping higher education institutions (HEIs
Higher Education Institutions
) across Europe translate research into real-world innovation, enhance entrepreneurship education and foster stronger collaboration with businesses.
On 08/07/2026, the EIT announced that it would distribute €70 million to 35 consortia, representing 552 organisations from 49 countries, including universities, businesses, research centres and public authorities. The projects will start in September 2026 and run for two years.
The 2025 EIT Higher Education Initiative's Call for Proposals aimed to support projects that help universities and their partners strengthen entrepreneurial skills and mindsets, establish innovation structures and programmes and deepen strategic collaboration with industry and society.
The funding will serve for activities such as developing and implementing innovation action plans, designing and delivering entrepreneurship programmes, providing training and mentoring, creating innovation structures, building partnerships and innovation ecosystems and supporting technology transfer and startup creation.
The call was organised into two strands. The first focuses on strengthening entrepreneurship and innovation capacity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
) disciplines.
The second promotes long-term collaboration between the EIT’s Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) and the European Universities alliances supported under Erasmus+. Each European Universities alliance will work with its assigned KIC
Knowledge and Innovation Communities
to develop joint activities based on their shared priorities and complementary strengths.
Of the 35 selected projects, 18 fall under the first strand and 17 under the second.
Details of the results
The 35 selected projects bring together a total of 351 full project partners, including:
- 218 HEIs;
- 76 businesses;
- and 57 other organisations such as research centres, public authorities, and intermediary organisations.
An additional 201 organisations will participate as associated partners.
Italy has the largest number of participating organisations, with 51 partners, followed by Germany (48), Spain (43), Greece (34), and France and Portugal, with 30 organisations each.
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