STARS EU aims to support regional transitions and positively impact the well-being of society through interdisciplinary interregional cooperation. To this end, the Regional Transition Accelerator (RTA) has been established. The RTA plays a significant role in engaging the Alliance's regional ecosystems in driving interregional education, research and innovation activities related to their smart specialisation strategies and to STARS EU's priority areas at regional and interregional level. By engaging regional stakeholders in the Living labs, the Future lab, and other academic activities, the STARS EU inter-regional co-creation ecosystem strives to achieve a positive and sustainable regional impact.

STARS EU Living Labs

At the crossroads of education and research, academia and society, the STARS EU Living Labs are created to act as open innovation platforms through a process of co-design, experimentation and evaluation, which will allow stakeholders to gain valuable insights, refine their offerings and accelerate the transition to more sustainable and inclusive societies. The STARS EU Living Labs will be established as collaborative platforms, where stakeholders from various sectors will come together to identify needs and test innovative solutions in a real-world environment. By providing a dynamic environment for experimentation and iteration, Living Labs facilitate the development of user-centric innovations that address complex societal challenges. These challenges will be addressed in close interaction with academia involved in the Thematic Interest Groups, striving in the development of products and technologies. STARS EU Living Labs will drive economic growth and competitiveness, fostering entrepreneurship, creating new business opportunities, and promoting the transfer of knowledge and technology, as well as: -Encourage open innovation-Promote interdisciplinary collaboration -Support the integration of modern technologies and practices into everyday life

Challenge-driven teaching and learning

STARS EU's innovation encompasses the co-development of innovative pedagogical methods to meet the needs of improved and reskilled labour. The alliance fosters an innovation-oriented mindset and entrepreneurial talent among teachers, researchers, and students in order to improve their prospects for employability and lifelong learning.  The STARS EU Future Lab is created to foster and attract innovative talents through common projects conducted by students and lifelong learners, in cooperation with scientific supervisors and regional business representatives. Participating students will form interdisciplinary groups and address the scientific challenges of regional actors, who will address them using the resources of their home universities, supervised by academic coordinators.  Existing teaching communities were assessed to develop a STARS EU Handbook for Teaching and Learning, with the aim of supporting pedagogical innovation and the promotion of student-centred personal and professional growth. At the same time, several intensive blended learning programs (in this field) are being conducted to promote pedagogical innovation and work-integrated learning, as well as common values in research, such as gender equity in STEM areas and ethics in science.  These initiatives do not stand on their own but are strongly supported by the Curriculum Lab, through the STARS EU Future competence observatory, as well as the Learning and Teaching communities, integrated into the joint academic offer of STARS EU.

Our contribution to regional and European innovation

The STARS EU partners have carried out an in-depth evaluation of the Regional Strategies for Innovation (RIS3) in a report highlighting the complementary fields of research and innovation in the STARS EU priority areas, as well as the gaps that need to be closed through the development of knowledge and innovation, which STARS EU members and their regional stakeholders can jointly address. The conclusions of the evaluation have been a valuable contribution to the joint research agenda.  In addition, the partners have mapped the potential contributions of STARS EU to the New European Innovation Agenda (NEIA), both in terms of knowledge and skills development in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship (students and lifelong learners).  In order to embed the common STARS EU innovation priorities in partner organisations and interconnect them with their regional stakeholder communities, STARS EU member universities are preparing a catalogue of innovation support services that is accessible to all partners, universities, and regional stakeholders. This document will define the principles for access, the conditions, the categories of all potential users and intellectual property issues, which contributes to strengthening the entrepreneurial and innovation capacity of STARS EU.

To get involved

Any initiative that supports STARS EU's ambition to achieve sustainable regional transitions is welcome. The alliance is open to expressions of needs for new skills, knowledge development and innovation that can be addressed in collaboration with the alliance.  Whether you represent a company, innovation support service, NGO, or any other type of stakeholder in one of the STARS EU regions, STARS EU welcomes your suggestions. Please, use our contact form. If you are an academic member of one of our partner universities and would like to join one of the nine Thematic Interest Groups to contribute to STARS EU approach on sustainable positive regional impact, please take a look at this link for more information.

Leader

Lorène Karam(lorene.karam@univ-fcomte.fr)

Co-Leader

Albert Haan(a.w.haan@pl.hanze.nl)