Andrea-Rosalinde HOFER a German national has been working for the OECD since 2003. She led the HEInnovate country reviews in Bulgaria, Ireland, the Netherlands and Hungary, and the OECD’s predecessor work on strengthening university entrepreneurship support in eastern Germany. The aim of HEInnovate – a key long-term partnership initiative by the European Commission and the OECD – is to support policy makers, higher education leaders and other key stakeholders to identify the actions they can take to stimulate entrepreneurship and innovation and to remove the blockages that can exist at the institutional level and the national higher education system, based on data, analysis and international comparison. To enhance the practical application of the HEInnovate guiding framework, a free online self-assessment tool (www.heinnovate.eu) was designed for HEIs to organise a strategic debate with key stakeholders around entrepreneurship and innovation, using a digital platform (http://www.HEInnovate.eu). The tool is available in 23 languages and currently used by more than 800 HEIs around the world.

1. HEInnovate:
Supporting Innovation and Entrepreneurship
in & through Higher Education
CUBCCE 2017 conference – Budapest, 4-5 December 2017
Andrea-Rosalinde Hofer, OECD
andrea-rosalinde.hofer@oecd.org

2. Online self-assessment tool
Country reviews
Policy learning network
(planned)
HEInnovate - A Guiding Framework

3. Self-assessment tool
• Why?
• How does it work?
• What to use it for?

4. www.heinnovate.eu

5. www.heinnovate.eu

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2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
The HEI is committed to collaboration
and knowledge exchangewith industry,
the public sector and society.
The HEI demonstrates active
involvement in partnerships and
relationships with awide rangeof
stakeholders.
The HEI has strong links with incubators,
science parks and other external
initiatives.
The HEI provides opportunities for staff
and students to takepart in innovative
activities with business / the external
environment.
The HEI integratesresearch, education
and industry (wider community)
activities to exploit new knowledge.
Administrative leader Central management Dean/Head of School/Faculty Other Professor/Teacher Post Doc / Researcher & Students
Use of Group Function
by Hungarian HEI to
prepare the review visit
in March 2016,
43 respondents
Statements with high level of
agreement between groups 
opportunity
Statements with high level of
disagreement between groups
areas for improvement

7. HEInnovate country reviews
• Why?
• What have we learned?

8. Objectives of the HEInnovate country reviews
• Assist policy makers, HEI leaders and staff
to identify and act upon opportunities, enablers and
challenges to support the development of
entrepreneurial & innovative HEIs
• Identify and analyse good practices in public policies
and HEI actions
• Disseminate learnings and promote transnational
collaboration

9. Key findings from the 1st round of reviews
• The “entrepreneurial agenda” of HEIs has three key pillars: (i)
developing an entrepreneurial mindset of students and staff,
(ii) supporting start-ups, (iii) active role in local development
• Effective policy frameworks emerge from a strong long-term
collaboration of different policy portfolios including
education, labour market and skills, research, innovation,
enterprise, and regional development.
• The combination of human resource development, incentives
and support structures is the central lever to mobilise
academic staff for greater impact.

10. Key findings from the 1st round of reviews
• Interdisciplinary approaches to education and research work far
better in progressing on an entrepreneurial agenda than a silo
setup.
• Students need incentives and support to engage with the
entrepreneurial agenda (e.g. diploma supplements , formal &
informal activities, flexibility for student start-ups to reduce
dropout risk
• Innovative & entrepreneurial HEIs are strongly linked with other
organisations – locally, nationally, internationally
• Synergies between the internationalisation & entrepreneurial
“agendas” are crucial to attract students and staff, and KE

11. Key findings from the 1st round of reviews
• Measuring impact need further attention. Some relevant
metrics that are easy to collect are numbers of start-ups and
spin-offs, and technology transfer through contract research
and intellectual property rights.
• Much harder to capture are the different forms of
engagement with the wider world, such as community
research, service learning, or the impact of international
students on the internationalisation activity of local firms.
• Much more information is needed on practices, outcomes
and the underlying processes within HEIs and partner
organisations to fully conceptualise impact.

12. HEInnovate country review Hungary
• Collaborative effort with the Ministry of Human Capacities and the
Tempus Public Foundation
• Review steering group (Rectors’ Conference, Ministry of National
Economy)
• HEI Leader Survey Jun – Nov 2016 (response rate for Universities:
54%, response rate for other HEIs: 52%)
• Study visits to six HEIs (Feb – Mar 2016)
• Wide consultation on review findings and recommendations
(HEInnovate event for all HEIs in Nov 2016)
• Action Plan on implementing the review recommendations by the
Ministry of Human Capacities
• Contacts: szilvia.besze@tpf.hu, Tempus Public Foundation;
& Istvan Vilmos Kovacs HEInnovate Facilitators Group,
nat. contact point Hungary

13. Thank you!
2014
2017
Forthcoming:
OECD/EU (2018), Supporting Entrepreneurship and Innovation in
Higher Education in the Netherlands
New country reviews underway (Austria, Croatia, Romania, …)