The KnowHub project will reconnect universities and enterprises in the Western Balkans to support the development of innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem through knowledge transfer. This cooperation will sustain and further grow the research and practical teaching capacities of the targeted universities, will increase the international competitiveness of the enterprises and will provide students with practical experience enhancing their (self)employability. This will be achieved through setting-up of Commercialisation Hubs at the European University of Tirana and University of Vlora in Albania, University of Sarajevo and University of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina and at the University of Montenegro. The Hubs will join knowledge, resources and infrastructure from different university units and centres serving as a one-stop-shop for cooperation with industry. Each Hub’s placement, strategy, business plan and portfolio of instruments will be tailor-made to the needs and capacities of the universities from the project. This will enhance the full potential of each university and the Hubs’ sustainability. Within the scope of this project the Hubs and the Partner Country Universities (PCUs) will develop capacities in Rapid Prototyping and Lean Manufacturing through study visits and trainings, as well as peer-mentoring from the EU universities. At least15 enterprises will be engaged in university-enterprise cooperation projects including more than15 professors and 45 students. The project will also develop the Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) capacities at the PCUs. Academic staff will be trained (≥25 professors) in order to increase both the commercialisation of research through entrepreneurial activities (start-ups and spin-offs) and to embed I&E topics and skills into (≥25) technical courses. The first generation of (≥50) students active in the Hubs will be trained on STEM Bootcamp increasing their (self) employability.

FH JOANNEUM GESELLSCHAFT MBH (AT)

UNIVERSITAT DE GIRONA (ES)

VAASAN YLIOPISTO (FI)

WORLD UNIVERSITY SERVICE-OSTERREICHISCHES KOMITEE VEREIN (AT)

ZDRUZENIE NACIONALEN CENTAR ZA RAZVOJ NA INOVACII I PRETPRIEMACKO UCENJE SKOPJE (MK)

JAVNA USTANOVA UNIVERZITET CRNE GORE PODGORICA (ME)

U.E.T. SHPK (AL)

UNIVERSITETIT TE VLORES (AL)

University of Mostar (BA)

UNIVERZITET U SARAJEVU (BA)

ZAKLADA ZA INOVACIJSKI I TEHNOLOSKI RAZVITAK (BA)