Understand HEInnovate & the 8 Dimensions
Get an overview of the HEInnovate framework and its eight dimensions. These resources help you grasp the core principles of HEInnovate and provide clear explanations of each dimension.
Each statement in the self-assessment has a corresponding guidance note. These notes explain what the statement is looking at and provide examples of how institutions can address it.
These reports analyse the higher education system of a specific country through the lens of the HEInnovate framework. They were conducted by the OECD in partnership with the European Commission between 2015 and 2021.
Get inspired by other HEIs
Learn from the experiences of higher education institutions across Europe. Explore case studies that showcase diverse practices and provide inspiration across the eight HEInnovate dimensions. Find testimonials that illustrate how institutions are using HEInnovate in practice. Discover real-life lessons and outcomes.
You can view and download case studies that showcase different institutional approaches and good practices along the eight dimensions of HEInnovate.
Read about the different uses and experiences of higher education institutions using the HEinnovate framework. The user stories also highlight lessons learnt and results achieved.
Implement HEInnovate in your institution
Support for you and your institution to work with the HEInnovate framework in a structured, collaborative way. Workshop Guides and Training Materials help you plan, deliver, and follow up on workshops of all sizes.
A comprehensive guide to HEInnovate. It explains the features of the website, how to set up groups, and describes three types of workshops you can run.
Short chapters from the Training Manual with focused advice on how to run different types of workshops, set the agenda, and decide whom to invite.
Turn insights into action
Transform your HEInnovate results into practical next steps. These tools help institutions prioritise actions, engage teams, and move from assessment to implementation, to ensure continuous, meaningful improvement.
Concise cards summarising practical actions aligned with each HEInnovate dimension. Use them to spark discussions and identify priorities.
Visual tools and worksheets to document goals, map short- to long-term actions, and organise activities into work packages. Includes the Action Planning Board, Work Package Planning Board, and Action Sheet.
All resources
An international or global perspective is a key characteristic of an entrepreneurial and innovative HEI. Most institutions have internationalisation strategies, or internationalisation is reflected in their overarching strategy. An entrepreneurial and innovative HEI will harmonise its approach to global, societal and ecological challenges with its...
Staff are a higher education institution's key resource in advancing the entrepreneurial and innovative agenda. Many areas of the entrepreneurial and innovative agenda – for example entrepreneurship education, knowledge exchange, measuring impact – are fast moving and require new skills and new knowledge to be acquired, shared and developed within...
Lund University (LU) is located close to a science park in a region with numerous incubators and start-ups in a rather densely populated area. The University uses its strategic location as a source of competitive advantage by strongly collaborating with local established companies, start-ups, student organisations, support services and incubators...
Higher education institutions can build and foster an entrepreneurial culture by recruiting and engaging staff that have strong entrepreneurial backgrounds. This can bring in important human resources (knowledge, skills), as well as financial and social resources (access to networks), which are typically not available inside a higher education...
Resource paper prepared by Ben Jongbloed (CHEPS, University of Twente) Introduction The University of Twente (UT), based in the east of the Netherlands, was established in the year of 1961. It is a medium-sized university with a strong engineering core, next to a social sciences base. The UT is very much known for its entrepreneurial character...
All internal and external stakeholders have a role in supporting an HEI’s entrepreneurial and innovative agenda. An entrepreneurial and innovative HEI understands the value of engaging with multiple external stakeholders to establish synergies. Therefore, it promotes a culture of collaboration within the HEI to build synergies with its...
Becoming an entrepreneurial and innovative HEI is an incremental and long-term organisational development project, which requires the development of a supportive institutional culture combined with a sustainable and diverse financial base. The ultimate aim of an entrepreneurial HEI is to embed innovation and entrepreneurship into the organisation...
An innovative HEI should integrate and assimilate the knowledge generated through its activities for extending its entrepreneurial agenda. Linking research and education with industry and local communities can lead to the co-creation of knowledge, for example through the involvement of external partners in teaching and research activities. The...
Knowledge intensive structures surrounding an HEI provide opportunities to exchange knowledge and ideas and promote a sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem. These include incubators, science parks and other initiatives. Many knowledge intensive structures, such as incubators and science parks, may be physically close to HEIs, but proximity per se...
An entrepreneurial and innovative HEI sees the value of engaging with local, regional, national strategy development and implementation as a key stakeholder in local, regional and national socio-economic development. They are often one of the major employers in a locality and their existence will impact on the local economy and social wellbeing...
Effective collaboration and enhanced synergies with the ecosystem - at local, regional and national levels are crucial for an entrepreneurial and innovative HEI, as it understands the value of engaging with multiple stakeholders to establish synergies. Therefore, it supports innovation to be aligned with the local, national and global challenges...
The internationalisation of higher education is both a response to and an enhancer of globalisation. Given their unique position as global centres of learning and research, and their key role in developing the leaders of the future, the internationalised entrepreneurial higher education institution, has a pivotal role to play in addressing the...
Transnational cooperation across an institution’s education and research activities deliveries a broad range of activities, especially if the HEI has a policy in place to mainstream innovative practices and ideas developed in alliances and projects in the whole institution. Strategic research partnerships with European HEIs provide a means to...
Internationalisation can, especially when incorporated into the HEI’s strategy, offer students, staff and the organisation several benefits. It can advance strategic thinking leading to innovation, offer advantages in modernising pedagogy, encourage collaboration between students and staff, stimulate new approaches to learning, and new research...
European and international mobility of staff and students, including administrative staff and doctoral students, is an important practice for entrepreneurial HEIs. These opportunities are well understood to bring about positive outcomes to all stakeholders involved, and to maximise the benefits delivered entrepreneurial and innovative higher...