There are two fundamental challenges in converting scientific discovery into societal value. First the (European) knowledge paradox (EKP) stipulates that academia and knowledge institutes are generating high quality knowledge and basic discovery outputs, yet there is a relative inability to convert such knowledge into economic value and benefit (Dosi, 2006). Second, the Valley of Death (VOD), a phase in research and development defined by a lack of funds where government funding declines and private sector funds are not available, presents a serious innovation barrier (Markham et al., 2012). Aiming to address these challenges, a solution needs to cover a complex assembly of factors.The project developed a Business and Innovation module for bachelor science programmes. In particular, 12 credits of the minor Business & Innovation which is available to all science students at the KU Leuven served as an initial model for the creation of this module. Workshops ‘Innovation in Practice’ have been developed as well as a MOOC ‘Principles of Economics for Scientists’ which both help bridge the gap between economics, business and entrepreneurship on the one hand and science on the other. The online course ‘Principles of Economics for Scientists' is delivered on the MOOC platform, provided by IMC. The Learning Analytics Framework and the Evaluation Tool were developed to support the learning process and the assessment of the online course. The IBIS project is a consortium of four organisations. The coordinating organisation is the Faculty of Science of the KU Leuven, Belgium. Partner organisations are the Faculty of Science of Stichting VU, Amsterdam, and the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and a private partner, imc information multimedia communication AG.Partners in this project have enhanced and developed cross disciplinary diversity and entrepreneurial skills in science and technology teaching and learning at the university level. University students majoring in various science disciplines are increasingly requesting the introduction of business context in their programmes. Traditionally, science study programmes tend to focus on domain specific subjects including some multidisciplinarity. By producing an online course Business and Innovation with emphasis on the role of curiosity driven fundamental research, this project tackles the challenges of how to convert fundamental knowledge into a business value and can thus improve the quality and the relevance of higher education science curricula. The entrepreneurial skills, acquired by the students who take the online course ‘Principles of Economics for Scientists’ or follow the Workshops: Innovation in Practice, will increase the relevance of these students on the labour market.The pedagogy used allows openness and flexibility in learning space (blended learning), flexibility in time and place of learning including mobility of students. This gives students a full responsibility for their own learning process in which they experience creation of scientific knowledge and its capitalization in a triple helix of university, industry and government institutional sphere. To support students in learning and gaining insight into the online learning process, a learning analytics framework was developed to analyse learner behaviour data and enhance the learning process, for example by predicting success in learning (Ferguson, 2012, Verbert 2013).References:Dosi, G, et al., The relationship between science, technologies and their industrial exploitation: An illustration through the myths and realities of the so-called ‘European Paradox’., Research Policy, vol. 35, Issue 10, dec . 2006.Ferguson, R. (2012) Learning analytics: drivers, developments and challenges. International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 4(5-6),304–317,Markham, Stephen K. et al., The valley of death as context for role theory in product innovation. The Jrn of Product Innovation, Vol 27, Issue 3, May 2012.Verbert, K., Duval, E., Klerkx, J., Govaerts, S., & Santos, J. L. (2013). Learning Analytics Dashboard Applications. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(10), 1500–1509.

<< Background >>HYBRID-E will make a significant contribution to responsibly shaping European Digital Society in Transition. HYBRID-E believes that more than one year into the global pandemic higher education entered a transition phase to embrace more permanent forms of hybrid teaching models, a mix of on campus teaching and deploying online learning technologies. While the crisis provided research universities across the globe with an unprecedented opportunity to truly innovate teaching by effectively adopting online, hybrid and blended teaching formats. The emerging question is, whether universities have been successful in transferring into this transformative phase and shaping education in a more proactive and sustainable way? HYBRID-E is convinced that fostering digital competences among the teaching staff is the first step towards enabling adaptive teaching and hence, more effective ways for guiding students.The designated chief priority of the project is ‘innovative practices in a digital era’.HYBRID-E’s mission is to contribute to the development of the European Education Area, thereby deploying lines of action presented in the Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027 by providing sound, proactive and sustainable frameworks and tools supporting teaching staff in navigating a responsible transition of their universities in the context of the global digital society.<< Objectives >>HYBRID-E’s seeks to achieve the following specific objectives:· equipping teaching staff to successfully steer their communities into a state of responsible digital transformation towards hybrid learning;· supporting teaching and professional services staff in developing the necessary skills to successfully shape their institution’s digital transformation, and in doing so provide better guidance to their students in navigating the global digital landscape;· providing teaching and support staff based at European higher education institutions with flexible ways for sharing digital resources and good practices geared towards continuous professional development.<< Implementation >>The project methodology is based on a holistic approach, connecting the activities carried out in all Project Results and is therefore well suited to meet the objectives, results and impacts. The project outputs will be shared with the wider higher education community and public through the following multiplier events:1. a hybrid event on facilitating responsible use of digital technologies and learner data in higher education;2. a Digital Foresight event: use case studies for adapting teaching practices event;3. a HYBRID-E workshop on Blended, Responsive and Inclusive Digital Education including a Final dissemination event. In addition, two themed Staff Training Events will be organised:1. Actionable Framework Training Event – KTH Royal Institute of Technology and organise this event in Stockholm.2. Digital contents Training Event – University College Dublin to host and organise this event in Dublin.<< Results >>The project’s results are intended to enhance academic teaching and considered drivers to improve life-long learning. HYBRID-E will create the following innovative resources and tools:· an actionable framework for a responsible use of digital technologies and digital (learner) data;· a digital content map aimed at offering insights and analysis concerning the staff and student experiences in the midst of the accelerated digital transformation;· a virtual Community of Practice (vCoP) based on open source technology for exchanging best practices and delivering the digital content;· a dynamic Handbook offering recommendations and practices for inclusive and sustainable digital Education in traditional universities.

"Uczelnie wyższe w dzisiejszych czasach najczęściej podkreślają w swoich Misjach potrzebę nowoczesnego kształcenia przystosowanego do rynku pracy oraz transferu wiedzy do społeczeństwa. Podejście interdyscyplinarne okazuje się nieocenione nie tylko dla naukowców, ale przede wszystkim dla studentów i absolwentów. Wzmacnia kompetencje przekrojowe, kreatywność i elastyczność, daje wiedzę i słownictwo umożliwiające lepsze zrozumienie innych dyscyplin, zapewnia niezbędne umiejętności komunikacyjne i przygotowuje do pracy zespołowej pożądanej na współczesnym rynku pracy. Europejskie instytucje szkolnictwa wyższego starają się zmienić swoje oblicze zgodnie z wymogami gospodarki opartej na innowacjach, stąd wzmacnianie interdyscyplinarności i rozwijanie nowoczesnych metod kształcenia i pracy jest szansą na zwiększanie ich zdolności innowacyjnych i dydaktycznych oraz lepsze przystosowanie do dynamicznie zmieniających się społeczeństw, gospodarek i rynku pracy.Głównym celem projektu było podniesienie poziomu interdyscyplinarności na uczelniach poprzez zastosowanie podejścia oddolnego, tj. wspieranie studentów, nauczycieli akademickich i kadry zarządzającej w rozwijaniu ich zdolności do myślenia dywergencyjnego, twórczego, projektowego (zgodnie z podejściem design thinking-DT). Wymienione grupy docelowe tworzą ekosystem każdej uczelni i każda z nich jest równie ważnym elementem całości, bez którego prawdziwa zmiana instytucjonalna nie jest możliwa. Pozostałe cele projektu są zgodne z następującymi priorytetami programu Erasmus +:1. Osiągnięcie odpowiednich i wysokiej jakości umiejętności i kompetencji, takich jak: kreatywność, adaptacja do szybko zmieniających się okoliczności, kompetencje międzykulturowe i wielojęzyczne, rozwój pracy zespołowej, elastyczności, umiejętności uczenia się oraz lepsze postrzeganie własnej zdolności rozwiązywania problemów. 2. Wspieranie innowacji i kreatywności poprzez partnerstwa, inter- i transdyscyplinarne podejście oraz wzmacnianie roli szkolnictwa wyższego w regionach. 3. Promowanie umiędzynarodowienia, uznawania i mobilności, wspieranie zmian zgodnie z zasadami procesu bolońskiego. Sam charakter projektu oraz szeroki skład konsorcjum projektowego wzmacnia per se rozwój procesu bolońskiego poprzez promowanie współpracy europejskiej oraz rozwój europejskiego obszar szkolnictwa wyższego.W trakcie realizacji projektu:- stworzono 5 produktów, które dostępne są bezpłatnie dla każdego w Internecie, - zrealizowano 20 wydarzeń upowszechniających (245 odbiorców), - zorganizowano 3 intensywne treningi z zakresu DT (84 uczestników), każdy skierowany do jednej z trzech powyższych grup docelowych,- zorganizowano 5 kilkudniowych spotkań partnerskich w siedzibach Partnerów (w 2020 r. zdalnie) i kilkadziesiąt spotkań online. Wiedza na temat DT upowszechniona w instytucjach partnerskich stała się m. in. przyczynkiem do zmian podejmowanych w programach kształcenia, jak również wprowadzania przez uczestników projektu metod DT w ramach prowadzonych zajęć oraz w codziennej pracy zespołowej. W UMCS na kierunku Socjologia wprowadzony został obowiązkowy przedmiot ""Warsztaty myślenia projektowego"", w ramach którego poznawane jest w praktyce podejście DT, Uniwersytet Bifrost wprowadził kurs z DT bazujący na IO2 oraz IO4, metody DT są również częścią nauczania Teorii Decyzji na Wydziale Biznesu. Na Uniwersytecie w Amsterdamie doświadczenia z projektu DT.Uni pomogły we wdrożeniu DT jako metody na nowych kursach i doprowadziły do ​​opracowania całkowicie nowego interdyscyplinarnego programu studiów na Wydziale Nauk o nazwie ""Ludzie, nauka i technologia"". W TU Dresden zostały wprowadzone regularne warsztaty DT dla studentów w katedrze Industrial Design Engineering, a do programu nauczania wprowadzono e-book IO2 (Wydział Informatyki), usprawniający już istniejące metody projektowania w nauczaniu. Metody DT są stosowane w dziale „Strategii i komunikacji”, stowarzyszeniu badawczym „DRESDEN-concept”, którego członkiem jest TU Dresden, klastrze CeTI, w administracji Wydziału Inżynierii Środowiska. Zespół STEAMhouse w BCU opracowuje nowy program warsztatów DT dla studentów. Pilotaż będzie prowadzony z udziałem grupy studentów różnych dyscyplin na Wydziale Informatyki, Inżynierii i Środowiska w lutym 2021 r. Ambicją BCU jest wprowadzenie tego typu programu na innych wydziałach, m. in.Wydziale Sztuki i Projektowania oraz Biznesu i Zdrowia, a techniki DT zostały użyte w badaniach naukowych i pracach rozwojowych związanych z eXtended BCU - projektem BCU badającym technologię AR/VR w celu stworzenia wirtualnych przestrzeni edukacyjnych. Również UEBA oraz IPG od 2018 r. wdrażają DT na kursach prowadzonych przez uczestników projektu DT.Uni. Projekt zapewnił dobre zrozumienie narzędzi i technik design thinking, doświadczenie w ich stosowaniu, sposób na wzbudzenie entuzjazmu i szkolenia innych oraz, co najważniejsze, pewność wykorzystania tego podejścia, a tym samym zwiększania interdyscyplinarności w przyszłości."

In rapidly changing health care systems, digitalization, e-health and robotisation are gaining influence. Due to the existing global nurse shortage in Europe, a demand for healthcare and therewith nurses will continue to grow, whilst the supply of available nurses is projected to drop. Therefore, it is expected that the shortages will accelerate in the coming decade and will be more serious than the cyclical shortages of the past. This nursing shortage will ultimately constrain health system reform and innovation, and contribute to escalating costs. ICT, AI and robotization are one way to support health care professionals, enhance interprofessional cooperation and patients` safety. This introduction of ICT, robotisation and other technologies in nursing care will create a disruptive change in the provision of health and nursing care. Furthermore, research shows, that the usage of ICT is still limited within the health care professions and thus in nursing. For that external and internal factors have been identified, e.g. infrastructure not being suitable or the lack of interoperability of different computer and ICT systems, the limited awareness and understanding of ICT concepts. Health care professionals who use ICT complain about the lack of skills and tailored trainings for their needs. Usually nurses have to learn ICT related skills on the job within their working duties. As ICT is rapidly changing and developing towards robotization and AI, the resistance and skepticism towards technology among nursing professionals are expected to grow. The NursingAI project will analyze and forecast the types of skills and competencies needed by health care professionals, especially nurses. By gaining insight of needed competencies and skill, curriculums for trainings and education programs can be enhanced to the actual needs concerning ICT competencies. NursingAI will work towards an assessment and training tool for skills related to AI, robotisation, digitalization and e-health in nursing sectors of Germany, Hungary and the Netherlands. The tool prototype will be tested and evaluated in these countries in order to make them available for local and European VET curriculums and further education programs. These efforts are critical, since 1), nurses should be able to understand and work with novel AI and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in order to improve the general quality of care; 2) the current offer of assessment and training methods on AI, robotisation, digitalization and e-health skills in nursing in Europe is very limited, and 3) in order to have a significant amount of AI and robotization skilled nurses in place in 5-10 years time in Europe, investments and changes in the VET curricula need to be initiated now. With the transnationally project, needed competencies in future workplaces will be multiplied and progress made in VET and health care.

The aim of this project was specifically to enhance students’ employability by developing Intercultural Competencies and Entrepreneurial skills, and applying them to address global and societal challenges by working together in transnational teams employing a tailor-made digital platform. The project needs were identified in response to partners’ consultation with employers. The needs for the project are compelling in that Intercultural Competencies (IC) is a key characteristic needed for a working life in the ever more global labour market and is seen as one of the key competencies for 21st century graduates (EC, COM(2005)548 final; 2005/0221(COD)). In addition, there is an increased need for more horizontal skills such as leadership and entrepreneurship (CIHE, Global Graduates, 2012). Eight universities partnered in the project – University of Edinburgh, University of Amsterdam, University College Dublin, Lund University, University of Salamanca, Università degli Studi di Padova, University of Göttingen and Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi. The project delivered the following key objectives: • Developed a formalised programme specifically focussed on intercultural competencies, transversal skills, social and civic awareness, critical thinking, digital skills and media literacy. • Improved skills in entrepreneurship and new business creation (including social entrepreneurship). • Developed innovative learning approaches for interdisciplinary and multicultural participation in ‘real world’ projects that enhances team working, leadership and innovation skills. • Developed awareness among students of their role as global citizens. • Created effective learning pathways, especially for Widening Participation students to benefit from the opportunities offered through virtual mobility, equipping them with confidence and insight into preparing for a physical mobility. • Designed a formalised transnational Training Programme which awarded 10 ECTS credits with a transferable model for other institutions, Further Education Colleges and Schools etc. • Created an innovative learning technology platform to facilitate virtual mobility. • Ensured a sustainable model and delivered enhanced training through dissemination across Europe and throughout the world. The project activities consisted of informal (non-funded) benchmarking to understand student needs and expectations, designing a Training Programme and Virtual Module Toolkit for Intercultural Competence and Entrepreneurship, including ICT tools and an innovative 10 ECTS credit-bearing ‘NICE’ Student-Led Individually-Created Course, and a Handbook and Framework for policy makers. 262 students participated in the project of which 74 were widening access or special needs students. The impact of the project resulted in an increase of Intercultural Competence, transversal skills and entrepreneurship skills directly within the participants and informed institutional policy on how the enhancement to employability prospects can be further expanded to all students enrolled at the partner institutions. The Handbook is an excellent guide to implementing a virtual exchange programme within an organisation; it has been viewed over 2,400 times via the NICE website (www.nice-eu.org) and downloaded over 300 times.The desired impact was further enhanced through knowledge sharing activities with other actors such as local Further Education Colleges, Schools and policy makers in addition to other regional and national higher education institutions. This project provides the opportunity to impact at the European level by tackling societal and global challenges resulting in globally oriented employees with embedded global citizenship values. Out of the eight original NICE partners, seven have committed to continuing on with the project throughout 2021 and beyond, with the next iteration already accepting student applications. Six different institutions (both within Europe and beyond) have already expressed interest in joining the NICE consortium as a partner in 2022 and we have received interest from three different alliances (U21, EPICUR and Una Europa). NICE alumni have also been greatly impacted by the programme and are invested in its success, as 36 former NICE students have indicated their desire to support the programme as facilitators going forward.