Implementation of RE-ACT is underway

The staff of the Department of Economic Geography, Geoeconomy and Sustainable Development is involved in the implementation of the project RE-ACT – Self-Reflection Tools for Regionally Operating Smart Universities.

 ERASMUS+ projects aim to exploit the potential of existing self-assessment tools, in particular HEINNOVATE (a self-assessment tool for higher education institutions to explore their innovation potential), and the design and implementation of RIS3 (Regional Strategy for Innovation and Smart Specialisation). RE-ACT partner institutions (from Portugal, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Italy and Belgium) will identify, develop and test an innovative conceptual approach that may be widely disseminated in future and may facilitate developments in the higher education system and its interconnection with the private and public sectors within the Quadruple Helix ecosystem.

RE-ACT partners organized a project opening workshop in Porto in January 2020 to identify the first steps; however, they were affected and delayed somewhat by the pandemic. Nevertheless, participating institutions still made efforts to make contact with the players of the Quadruple Helix, so as to establish their collaboration on smart specialization strategies. At the same time, they discussed possible ways to further develop HEINNOVATE, which supports RIS3, into an on-line self-assessment tool.

In recent months, partner institutions have carried out a comprehensive analysis (including an academic literature review, a Delphi questionnaire survey, and expert interviews) involving HEINNOVATE and S3 experts as well as public authorities involved in RIS3 processes at regional and national level. The results of this analysis were discussed by researchers at the second partner meeting on 14 October 2020.

The partner institutions researching under RE-ACT are currently working on finalizing the research report summing up and analysing the results of the academic literature review, the Delphi questionnaire survey, and the interviews. Following this, they will organise evaluation workshops to gather feedback from key stakeholders on research results and key findings. A total of 75 regional players will be invited, 15 of them for each workshop: five higher education institutions, five industry players and five local governments/decision makers. Information gathered during the workshops will be summarized and incorporated in the “HEINNOVATE for RIS3” guide.

Please find more information here.