Boosting disruptive innovation by fostering new mindsets and co-creating innovation

LEUVEN, 9 May 2022

The leading universities of Science and Technology (S&T) united within CESAER today publish our position ‘Boosting disruptive innovation by fostering new mindsets and co-creating innovation’.

We underline the vital importance of appropriate framework conditions and sustainable funding to deploy co-creation practices and develop the right skills and mindsets within and beyond universities to ensure a safe, secure and sustainable future and introduce four key messages:

• Foster talent and engage people
• Advance innovation ecosystems by developing better cooperation processes for open innovation
• Promote and implement scientific knowledge
• Promote a risk-taking mindset to boost disruptive innovation

This builds on (i) our previous position encouraging the European institutions to reinforce the European Research Area (ERA) by advancing investigator-driven frontier research to boost disruptive innovation, and (ii) our most recent position highlighting the need for a global approach through a global framework for S&T collaboration to effectively deploy research and innovation to tackle local and global challenges and (iii) our white paper on the role of universities of Science and Technology in innovation ecosystems

In light of the upcoming conference ‘Europe as a Leader in Disruptive Innovation’ organised by the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, we urge the EU institutions to fully acknowledge the central role of universities of S&T in stimulating disruptive innovation throughout society.

Co-Chair of Task Force Innovation and Director, Tim Bedford said:

“Individuals and activities engaged in advancing disruptive innovation are driven by scientific and technological curiosity, and by solving societal challenges.

"Universities of S&T are crucial players acting as the ‘glue’ of innovation ecosystems and play an open and collaborative leadership role that goes beyond the more passive “Third Mission”, helping to tackle local and global challenges.”

Co-Chair of Task Force Innovation, Toril Hernes said:

“Innovation is about exploration, that means giving researchers and innovators the freedom and capacity to experiment, fostering a trust-based mindset that allows for the failure and risk-taking essential to successful innovation.

"Learning from the climate change crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine, we must move on from a reactive strategy of only taking interest in innovative ideas when they are suddenly in demand, to a more proactive way of innovating which anticipates and prevents crises by unleashing the potential of new sustainable solutions from research .”

Advisor for Innovation & Sustainability, Louise Drogoul, said:

“We offer to help identify missing elements from the existing programmes, and then enrich and revise them to better reflect the current needs, to reflect our conviction that valorisation is as important as high quality research and education. This will help develop a long-term strategy for valorisation that advances beyond primarily project-based programmes to a much needed life-cycle focus.”

For more information please contact Louise Drogoul, Advisor for Innovation & Sustainability

• The full PDF is available for distribution here