Western Balkans Regional University Innovation Platform

This report takes the findings of the WBCInno project to date and reviews these to enable a proposal to be developed for a Western Balkans Regional University Innovation Platform. This Platform aims to support the development and growth of a range of KTT activities including commercialisation of research, collaboration between universities and enterprises, and establishing start-ups and spin-offs. It also considers the issues of managing and supporting these activities to optimise success as well as considering ways in which success can be measured and reported. The report recognises that different universities are at different stages of development, have different strengths and opportunities, and consequently require different support mechanisms. This recognition is reflected in the proposals which are articulated through an Action Plan focusing on ensuring that the needs of each specific university in the Western Balkan countries can be met. The recommendations within the action plan highlight the need for stakeholder engagement and buy-in at an early stage in the detailed ‘design’ stage of all aspects, particularly in the light of historical experiences of infrastructure being established which have had only a limited life. The elements of this report include the development of Key Performance Indicators; the specification of a programme of KTT staff development activities; the definition of the Knowledge and Technology Transfer Unit functionalities; the detailed design of the UIP collaborative software platform; the development of motivational aspects; and setting university specific research priorities.

Subjects

West Balkan countries

Science

Research

Knowledge and technology transfer

KTT

WBC

Collaboration

DDC Class

330: Economics

600: Technology

370: Education

500: Science

Options

Western Balkans Regional University Innovation Platform