BACKGROUNDSignalled through the launch of the Europe 2020 Strategy (EC 2010) and the EU Growth Agenda (EC 2014), Europe is on a path towards stronger connectivity among society, government, business and higher education institutions (HEIs) in order to increase employment, productivity and social cohesion. The EU is promoting knowledge and technology circulation by HEIs, and the involvement of citizens, academia and industry to ultimately turn research results and innovations into sustainable solutions with economic value and societal benefits. However, despite the existing policy support, research valorisation by HEIs remains low (Davey et al., 2011, 2018). Researchers struggle with generating societal impact out of their research beyond just generating publications while HEIs remain unable to sufficiently support their researchers in their entrepreneurial and valorisation activities (Technolopolis, 2015). For decades, HEIs have placed the third mission and valorisation in particular more prominently on the agenda, however, they are yet to succeed in overcoming the barriers associated with it, including:-lack of entrepreneurial skills among researchers-low levels of commercial awareness-weak cooperation between universities and external stakeholders-lack of awareness about the valorisation engagement activities beyond research commercialisation-lack of industry contacts and supporting networks. Furthermore, it has been found that 50% of PhD students do not complete their PhD with 50% citing the lack of relevance of their research, and that up to 50% of PhD research is not converted into publications let alone products or services (Council of Graduate Schools, 2010). An OECD report (2017) however highlights the potential to leverage this latent to create useful products and services as well as partnerships and jobs. They estimate that science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) PhDs alone in Europe have the potential to add €1 Billion to the economy.Thus, there is a lack of researchers with the appropriate valorisation skills and knowledge, as well as a lack of appropriate training for them to acquire such skills. This is mainly because researchers, especially those in STEM, are not being trained to think and act entrepreneurially and on how to valorize their research (Alexandar et al., 2019). Although the technology transfer pipeline for STEM research may already be well-established at some HEIs, the STEM researchers still require tailored training focussed on valorisation that goes beyond just commercialisation and patenting. Whilst the majority of HEIs, driven by the willingness to spark entrepreneurial awareness and valorisation culture among students, has already integrated a number of entrepreneurship courses into their curriculum on a bachelor or master level, PhD students (i.e. R1 First stage Researchers www.euraxess.ec.europa.eu) commonly do not receive such training, including the ones working with the STEM research (Alexandar et al., 2019). This is notwithstanding the lack of valorisation and entrepreneurial capabilities amongst STEM graduates (CGS, 2017). PROJECTGiven this background, the STEM_Valorise project will develop valorisation capabilities amongst first stage STEM researchers by developing and delivering its 4 intellectual outputs. IO1 Valorisation Training Investigation Report, IO2 Digital Gallery of Success and Fail Stories of Academic STEM Entrepreneurs, IO3 Valorisation Training Programme and Toolkit, and IO4 Valorisation Training Pilot Test and Validation. The project will offer first stage researchers the necessary skills to create a commercial and societal value from their STEM research. More specifically, the project has the following objectives:•to provide a comprehensive understanding of the needs for valorisation and research-driven entrepreneurship training for first stage STEM researchers•to examine and disseminate the best practices of valorisation training offerings for researchers •to profile and showcase successful as well as unsuccessful stories and experiences of the STEM academic entrepreneurs•to design a modularised valorisation training programme and toolkit for first stage STEM researchersThis project will target technical universities and their first stage STEM researchers located in partner countries. It will offer critical insights into valorisation in STEM as well as provide educational means for HEIs to train their STEM researchers in valorisation and entrepreneurship. By raising entrepreneurial competences of researchers, the project will ultimately develop a new generation of STEM researchers empowered to make a stronger impact on society through the valorisation of their research. The project aims to develop STEM valorisation capabilities within HEIs at a European level owing to the interrelated nature of research networks within European countries. Thus, it is important that the project operate transnationally.