Before you begin, take some time to explore the tool. Understand what
it offers, how the self-assessment works, and what kinds of resources
are available. This step helps you feel prepared and confident before starting the main process.
HEInnovate: Unlock Your Institution’s Capacity for Innovation and Transformation
HEInnovate, an initiative of the European Commission and OECD, helps Higher Education Institutions become more entrepreneurial, innovative, and future-ready.
It offers a complete framework for change — guiding you from reflection to action. With HEInnovate, your university can assess its current position, design action plans, and access practical resources to turn ideas into impact.
Understand where you are today. Decide where you want to be tomorrow. Take concrete steps to get there.
Launched by the European Commission in partnership with the OECD, HEInnovate has supported institutions since 2013. As one of the Erasmus+ programme tools, it is embedded in EU policy and funding initiatives, making it a trusted starting point for transformation.
With HEInnovate, you can
Understand where you stand and where to go next
Get a clear, evidence-based picture of your institution’s innovation and entrepreneurship capacity across eight key dimensions.
Use the self-assessment to identify your strengths, reveal blind spots, and build a shared understanding of your starting point.
🧭 Benefit: You move from intuition to insight — with data that drives informed decisions.
Build alignment and a shared vision
HEInnovate brings together perspectives from leadership, staff, students, and partners to create a common language for change.
It helps you discuss what entrepreneurship means in your context, understand differing views, and agree on priorities that matter most.
🤝 Benefit: Transformation becomes a collective journey owned by your whole community.
Turn insight into action
ove from reflection to results using HEInnovate’s practical tools — Action Cards, case studies, and planning templates.
Design initiatives, set goals, and assign responsibilities to create a strategic roadmap that fits your institution’s vision and context.
🚀 Benefit: You move from ideas to implementation — with guidance at every step.
Connect to European funding opportunities
Use your HEInnovate results to shape an Innovation Vision Action Plan (IVAP) and connect to programmes like the EIT HEI Initiative.
Access funding, partnerships, and a European community of peers working toward the same goals.
🌍 Benefit: You scale your impact beyond your campus — linking institutional change to Europe’s wider innovation ecosystem.
The tool is confidential, available in all EU languages, and open to all types of Higher Education Institutions. Results are delivered instantly, along with tailored learning resources and access to a community of experts.
Launched by the European Commission in partnership with the OECD, HEInnovate has been supporting institutions since 2013. It is embedded in EU policy and funding initiatives, making it a trusted starting point for change
How to use HEInnovate?
The steps below guide you through the features and content of HEInnovate. By clicking on the carousel, you will gain an overview of how to use HEInnovate for an individual or group self-assessment.
Recommended resources:
- User Stories - See how other institutions have used HEInnovate to guide change
- Case Studies - Discover good practices in innovation and entrepreneurship across the 8 dimensions
- Description of the 8 Dimensions - Understand the dimensions that HEInnovate assesses
- Guidance Notes - Review detailed explanations of each statement in the self-assessment to better understand what you are evaluating
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Explore the 8 Dimensions
Explore the eight dimensions of HEInnovate by completing the self-assessment. Under eight dimensions, there are 38 statements to consider in relation to your institution.
Leadership and Governance
Entrepreneurial leadership and accountable governance are crucial to developing an entrepreneurial and innovative culture within an HEI. Such leadership defines entrepreneurship as a strategic priority and takes entrepreneurial and innovative practices from one-off experiment to an integrated approach that is core to how the HEI undertakes teaching, research and knowledge exchange.
- Entrepreneurship and innovation are a major part of the HEI’s strategy. Read More
- Leadership of the HEI demonstrates entrepreneurial attitude and competences that drive institutional change. Read More
- There is a structure/system for coordinating and integrating entrepreneurial activities across the HEI to facilitate the implementation of the institutional entrepreneurial agenda. Read More
- The HEI encourages and supports faculties, departments, units, teams and individuals to act entrepreneurially. Read More
- The HEI is a driving force for entrepreneurship and innovation in regional, social, community development and addressing societal challenges. Read More
Organisational Capacity: People, Resources, Incentives and Rewards
The organisational capacity of an HEI drives its ability to deliver on its entrepreneurial strategy. If an HEI is committed to carrying out entrepreneurial activities to support its strategic objectives, then key resources such as people, funding and investments, expertise and knowledge, reward and incentive systems need to be in place to sustain and grow its capacity for entrepreneurship and innovation.
Entrepreneurial Teaching and Learning
Entrepreneurial teaching and learning involves exploring pedagogies, practices and flexible learning pathways to stimulate entrepreneurial mindsets in an inclusive and sustainable way. While the idea of creating a start-up remains a powerful and versatile pedagogical tool, entrepreneurship education is not just learning about how to transform an idea into a sustainable business. It is also about being exposed to entrepreneurial experiences and acquiring the skills and competences for developing an entrepreneurial mindset and equipping students to be able to contribute to addressing challenging issues such as sustainability and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Preparing and Supporting Entrepreneurs
HEIs can help students, graduates and staff consider starting a business as a career option. At the outset it is important to help individuals reflect on the commercial, social, environmental, and lifestyle objectives related to their entrepreneurial aspirations and intentions. For those who decide to proceed to start a business, or other type of venture, targeted assistance can then be offered in generating, evaluating and acting upon the idea, building the skills necessary for successful entrepreneurship, and importantly finding relevant team members and getting access to appropriate finance and effective networks. In offering such support, an HEI should ideally act as part of a wider business support ecosystem rather than operating in isolation.
Digital Transformation and Capability
HEIs are already deploying digital technologies, however the uptake and integration varies among and within institutions. HEIs should make the most out of the opportunities presented by digital transformation and consider digital technologies as a key enabler of innovation and entrepreneurship. An HEI’s digital capability is defined as the ability to integrate, optimise and transform digital technologies to support innovation and entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and Networks
An entrepreneurial and innovative HEI proactively connects with its ecosystem (intended as an array of interlinked actors pooling skills and resources to pursue a common goal) to deliver social, cultural and economic benefits. The capacity to connect with entrepreneurial ecosystems and networks represents an important catalyst for organisational innovation in the HEI. It also helps the advancement of teaching and research, and transforms the HEI into an important actor in regional development and issues related to territorial cohesion.
The Internationalised Institution
A sustainable entrepreneurial HEI integrates internationalisation into the design and delivery of education, research, and knowledge exchange by introducing new questions, approaches and alternative ways of thinking. Through considering international societal challenges, including the UN SDGs, the entrepreneurial HEI is also better equipped to support its ecosystem.
Impact of the Entrepreneurial HEI
Entrepreneurial and innovative higher education institutions need to understand the impact of the changes they bring about. The entrepreneurial HEI combines institutional self-perception, external reflection and an evidence-based approach. An HEI that monitors the impact of all activities connected to the entrepreneurial and innovation agenda generates valuable information and data to be used to improve its own performance. Metrics should span beyond spin-off creation, the volume and quality of intellectual property generation and research income generation. Assessment activities should focus also on graduate entrepreneurship, skills and competence development, teaching and learning outcomes, talent retention, contribution to global, national and local economic development or the impact of the institution’s broader entrepreneurial agenda.
News & Events
Read the latest HEInnovate news and see our upcoming events. You can also sign up
to our news and newsletter to receive notifications.
Upcoming Events
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Recent News
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The European Commission is currently conducting an interim evaluation of the progress in putting in place and developing the European Education Area (EEA). The evaluation involves a number of consultations to gather feedback of a variety of stakeholders (including non-EU citizens). This Open Public...
HEInnovate in numbers
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Self-assessments
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Learn from other universities
You can view and download case studies that showcase different institutional approaches and practices along the eight dimensions of HEInnovate, and user stories about the experiences of various HEIs undertaking the HEInnovate assessment.
- Case studies
The European Bioeconomy University (EBU) is an alliance of eight higher education institutions (HEIs) with a dedicated focus on the bioeconomy. The institutions are from different European countries: Austria, France, Germany, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. The bioeconomy is that part of the economy that is concerned with the production and manufacturing of biological resources or with providing related services. In the project Fostering Entrepreneurship for the Bioeconomy (FOEBE) from 2020 to 2023, the EBU trained Master students from bioeconomy study programmes in...
- Case studies
Business incubators have long been integral to higher education, fostering strong connections between universities and regional business sectors. This comparative case study, part of the HEInnovate initiative, explores the establishment and operation of incubators to support entrepreneurs and innovators in collaboration with higher education institutions (HEIs). The study examines the University College of Borås, TecnoCampus Catalonia/Reimagine Textile, and Foundry Powered by International Fashion Academy (IFA) Paris, utilising public sources and interviews with HEI representatives. The case...
Alessio is a Full Professor of Agribusiness, Rural Development and Branding at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment of the University of Pisa. His professional experience includes coordinating several Erasmus+ funded projects ( The...
Oto Hudec has a background in statistical and evaluation methods and has almost 20 years of experience in the management of education and development at the Faculty of Economics. At the same time, he also works as a head of the Institute of Regional...
An enthusiastic user of HEInnovate, Barbara Gabriel has already implemented it twice in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Aveiro with two distinct target groups. HEInnovate is the catalyst for change and for several...