InterHEI

The Interdisciplinary HEI Entrepreneurship Fostering Program




InterHEI is an initiative (under the EIT HEI Initiative) of a pan-European consortium of five forward-thinking higher education institutions (HEIs) and six actors from other sides of the knowledge triangle coordinated by the Faculty of Management of the University of Warsaw (holder of three prestigious accreditations – EQUIS, AACSB, and AMBA – “Triple Crown”). 

The overarching objective of the InterHEI project is to unlock the potential of HEI consortium members for innovation and entrepreneurship and to build capacity, enabling them to capitalise on their research infrastructure capacities and opportunities, leverage HEI accumulated scientific knowledge for co-creation with stakeholders, prepare students for entrepreneurial thinking and actions, and establish effective dialogue with industry and government. 


The EIT’s HEI Initiative: Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education is a joint EIT Community activity coordinated by EIT RawMaterials. The initiative is a key objective for the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) as part of its new strategy, the EIT Strategic Innovation Agenda 2021−2027.

The initiative aims to support higher education institutions with expertise and coaching, access to the EIT innovation ecosystem, and funding, enabling them to develop innovation action plans complementing the needs of individual higher education institutions.

Learn more: www.eit-hei.eu

EIT HEI Initiative Call2 brochure


Under the EIT HEI Initiative as a key objective of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), the InterHEI project has been granted (EIT HEI Initiative Call 2) funding of 1.2 million euros (Phase 1&2) to increase innovation and entrepreneurial capacity in higher education by building capacity across HEIs and young businesses in the area of food and health.

InterHEI's areas are aligned with and support the strategic aims of two KICs, EIT Food and EIT Health:

Key features:

The overarching objective of the InterHEI project is to unlock the potential of HEI consortium members for innovation and entrepreneurship and to build capacity, enabling them to capitalise on their research infrastructure capacities and opportunities, leverage HEI accumulated scientific knowledge for co-creation with stakeholders, prepare students for entrepreneurial thinking and actions, and establish effective dialogue with industry and government. 

This area has been assessed as a key strength of the consortium. It is essential for businesses and government institutions as it will strengthen the innovation ecosystems in respective sectors, increase the number of research-based spin-offs and start-ups relevant to the contemporary food and health systems, diversifies HEI revenue streams, create jobs, increase the success rates of new product launches, and contribute to Smart Specialization Strategies and mission-oriented Research & Innovation Policies implementation.

Initiatives under InterHEI:

The InterHEI project relies on an integrated set of four dedicated initiatives, namely:

Research Infrastructure Commercialisation Academy

New Product Development Labs

Youth Entrepreneurship Program

Insight Academy

You can expect:

Through building capacity, designed and tailored to developing innovation and enterprise, these initiatives support the development of academic and non-academic staff and students within HEIs across the consortium, EIT HEI initiative, and the selected EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) and society.

Project partners

The InterHEI consortium comprises 11 full partners and 4 associated partners from Greece, Italy, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine.


The InterHEI consortium full partners:


The InterHEI consortium associated partners: