The Polytechnic of Lisbon is one of the partner institutions of the U! Innovate project, recently approved under the Higher Education Initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT HEI). The project was presented on May 22, 2025, during the U!REKA Connects conference in Helsinki, and the Polytechnic of Lisbon delegation included the Vice-President for Pedagogy and Quality, Professor Carla Viveiros; Professor Elisabete Alegria, Advisor for Science and Projects; Professor António Serrador, Advisor for Internationalization; Professor Isabel João, Coordinator of the Master's Degree in Quality and Environmental Engineering; and Professor Nuno Datia, Coordinator of the Master's Degree in Computer and Computing Engineering.

The U! Innovate has a European investment of 63 million euros in 47 new projects and aims to strengthen the innovation capacity of higher education institutions.

The U! Innovate project brings together institutions from seven European countries and is led by the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences,, Finland. The consortium includes partners from Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Portugal, with the Polytechnic of Lisbon as the national representative.

With an expected duration of 25 months, the project aims to train 1,200 students and 340 teachers and researchers, directly support the creation of new startups and consolidate inter-regional incubation structures, with a direct impact on the regions involved. In the case of IPL, participation is part of the U!REKA – Urban Research and Education Knowledge Alliance, of which it is a founding member.

Created in 2021, the EIT Higher Education Initiative is the only European instrument exclusively dedicated to strengthening innovation capacity in higher education. The initiative is implemented jointly by the various EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), with coordination provided by EIT RawMaterials. Since its launch, it has engaged more than 500 higher education institutions, supported 65 pan-European projects, trained more than 90,000 students and provided support to more than 1,700 startups and scale-ups, contributing to the strengthening of innovation ecosystems across Europe.

Texto de MFC/GCI
Imagem de U!reka