Knowledge Alliances are structured partnerships aimed at stimulating innovation by bringing together businesses and higher education institutions. It is expected that Knowledge Alliances would foster the role of Higher Education institutions as engines of innovation, through the flow and active exchange of knowledge between higher education and business, in turn leading to the development of long-term strategic partnerships between Higher Education Institutions and companies. These partnerships should support companies in providing new approaches to the professional development of their staff. Knowledge Alliances should also provide incentives to try out new and innovative teaching methods, to promote entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial mindsets, to foster the generation of new ideas and interdisciplinarity through cooperation.

In this contex, the EC has set out the Erasmus for All (2014-2020) -the new EU programme for education, training, youth and sport (proposed on 23 November 2011) which includes an ambitious proposal for the development of future Knowledge Alliances. It is expected that Knowledge Alliances will create new multidisciplinary curricula to promote entrepreneurship within education as well as develop other transferable skills such as real-time problem solving and creative thinking. Although there are numerous European-wide success stories of cooperation between education and business, the extent and scale of any such such co-operation varies considerably.

The first call for proposals by the EC for the launch of a new pilot project within the framework of the University–Business Cooperation initiative that became known as the Knowledge Alliances was first published in 2011, and altogether three projects were subsequently supported. One was implemented by the Universidade Lusófona in Portugal “Cinema and Industry Alliance for Knowledge and Learning” which focused on addressing the faults in matching training and professional development opportunities in the European film and audiovisual sector. The second project was undertaken by Coventry University in the UK “European University Enterprise Network” and addressed the ways to best foster an entrepreneurial spirit through new approaches to education, and the last was the project “KNOWFACT – A Knowledge Partnership for the definition and launch of the European Teaching Factory Paradigm in manufacturing education” implemented by the University of Patras in Greece and addressed the failure of educational institutions to deliver the type of educational program that is required by industry and manufacturing.

Noteworthy is the recent announcement by the Council for Industry and Higher Education from UK to launch a new National Centre for Universities and Business which will focus on strengthening the strategic partnership between universities and business with a view to driving economic growth and recovery. The newly established centre will be initially funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England with support from other national funding bodies. The development of the National Centre reflects the recognition by UK university and business leaders that they need to do more together to address the challenges to the UK of immediate turbulence in the global economy and of longer-term competitiveness.

Source: European Commission; Higher Education Funding Council for England