Population growth, increased prosperity and rapid urbanization are bringing global demand for natural resources to a point increasingly beyond the Earth’s carrying capacity. Together with climate change, those pressures are causing significant environmental degradation in many parts of the planet. Latin America is particularly vulnerable. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) constitute urgent calls and drivers for higher education to be part of future generations of engaged citizens aware of their role in creating fair and healthy societies.The Change the Climate project addresses three main needs: environmental management at all levels of higher education activities, integration of environmental management with sustainability strategies and institutional quality management, and customized strategies for sustainability in education. The project’s main goal is to increase Latin-American University’s contribution to Sustainable Development, through the implementation of environmental systematic practices and quality processes in alignment with the UN SDGs, improving the management and operations of higher education institutions. The project will deliver tools and guides for environmental impact analysis and SDGs mapping in campus operations and educational activities. An environmental management system will be implemented in each partner university decreasing their environmental impact; sustainability awareness will be assessed thoughout the academic communities; strategies for sustainability in higher education will be developed for curricula improvement; and a common open online course on sustainability will be created in English, Spanish and Portuguese.The project’s impact will reach stakeholders beyond the project partnership at local, regional and national levels contributing to behavioural change for sustainable futures.

Young universities share particular challenges when it comes to research capacities: poor resource bases compared to that of traditional universities, they operate outside important research networks and national policy and funding mechanisms are usually unfavourable and tend to reinforce institutional imbalance. However, young institutions usually play an important role in their own local contexts and have the advantage of more dynamic and flexible structures, which favours the relationship with external actors, particularly those located in the same region.I2LATAM will focus on the development of R&I capacities in young Latin American HEIs, through the generation of knowledge-sharing spaces to stimulate the relationship with key regional socio-economic actors. The quality, size of the consortium and the participation of four of the largest countries in Latin America (Colombia, Peru, Mexico and Argentina) give this project a unique reach and impact portential.The project will result in the development of tools and methodologies to systematically map and match institutional capacities with regional opportunities, as well as in the creation/reinforcing of knowledge-sharing spaces, using succesful European models as example. Additionally, I2LATAM will develop R+D+I capacities in young researchers and R&I managers by launching an open access training package focused on key skills to promote regional and international collaboration. The ultimate goal of I2LATAM is to strengthen capacities for strategic management of research and innovation in Latin American young Universities by taking advantage of the potential local/regional impact, while fostering collaboration between Latin American and European HEIs for the development of innovative research initiatives and projects. In the long term, it is expected that the exchange of knowledge, experience and good management practices will contribute to the region's insertion in the global dynamics of research and innovation.

The European Latin American Network in Support of Social Entrepreneurs (ELANET) has the ambition to become a leading platform in support of social entrepreneurs (SEs). This project will lead partner universities to implement an IT-based platform that consolidates already existing tools, resources, and coaching material for SEs. Our consortium involves 17 project partners (among which 4 European Universities and 12 Latin American Universities) and 35 associated partners. Through ELANET they will: - Develop and implement an international platform in support of SEs (in English) with 7 modules with seven modules: 1. SE cases to inspire, 2. SEs in need of support, 3. Support Partners, 4. Volunteers, 5. Tools for mentors, 6. Tools for SEs, and 7. Library with relevant articles and books.;- Exchange best practices for the support of SEs;- Make an inventory of available materials and tools;- Intensify the (inter)national collaboration among SEs, and between SEs, HEIs and network partners to attract resources (funding, coaching, volunteers);- Stimulate the internationalization of SEs, and their solutions to social challenges. The consortium undertakes this project because of all partner HEIs commitment to support SEs from their local communities. We refer here to the third and fourth mission of universities, with their active contribution to society, in addition to teaching and research. In the context of this project, most HEIs lack of a consolidated network of partners and programs of extracurricular activities to support SEs due to their complex coordination. Five years after the project (by 2028), ELANET’s goal is to be adopted by at least 100 universities from 20 countries, engaging 3.000 professors and 20.000 students in support of 5.000 social entrepreneurs. It is our ambition, supported by the crowdsourcing and transdisciplinary methodology of the project, to sustain ELANET over time and reach far beyond those numbers in support of social entrepreneurs.

The project enhances the quality of Colombian, Cuban and Panamanian universities by transferring the EU expertise to design and implement a quality referential (framework, tools & methodology) based on impact assessment. This tool complements the actual QA systems currently limited to quality of teaching and research. This fosters an evolution towards an impact-driven culture in the institutions which improves the quality and relevance of the services that they provide to their community. The project results in an impact QA system, inspired by EU experience and customized to the 3 national contexts. The HEIs are capacitated for applying the quality referential at the institutional level (impact is measured and included in strategic development) and at the functional level (more activities/projects are targeted at local communities and their impact is maximized). The fitness for purpose and practical relevance of this QA system are verified by its implementation in 11 universities, under the mentorship of European experts.Results and best practices are compiled in two publications series: one for senior university management explaining how to measure, monitor and increase impact and collecting best practices. The second series, for faculty and specialist staff, provides guidelines and inspiration on how to maximize impact of universities activities for local environment and illustrates it it by a case studies compendium. Main findings and recommendations are shared with the 3 countries stakeholders during the project conference to build awareness and stimulate replication.The project promotes cultural changes in the universities who understand better how to answer the needs of their environment how to engage into innovative and more impactful activities. Regional & local communities benefit from the concrete results of the pilot projects and tighten their links with HEIs open to the local environment.